Prizrak
by proudmarveltrash
Summary: Veronika didn't consider herself a coward - but when she realizes that the man she's spent the last two years chasing is after two of the people she abandoned without so much as a goodbye two years ago? Well, she might be just a bit of a coward. Will that stop her from helping her sister and the Captain, or will she face her fears and come running to their rescue? OC. Sestra Sequel
1. Important Lessons

**важные уроки**

 _Important Lessons_

* * *

Veronika stood patiently with her back to the brick wall, staring thoughtfully into the darkness as she waited. Her fingers tapped rhythmically against the wall in time with her chewing of the bright pink bubble gum in her mouth. The night before her offered its own noises to mask her own, ensuring her stealth while her target took his sweet ass time reaching her.

Two years.

Two painstakingly long and painful years filled to the brim with owed favors and empty promises she had sunk into finding a ghost story that she was unfortunately all too familiar with. And what did she have to show for it?

Hopefully – after tonight – the location of his next target.

Hunting down the Winter Soldier had proved to be just as difficult as Veronika had anticipated, if not more so. His reputation as a ghost was one he and his superiors had literally killed to maintain. Veronika herself had nearly been added to his kill count more than once. Those encounters were… unpleasant to remember, to put it lightly.

Such as the time his bullet had managed to hit her in the shoulder.

 _Veronika stepped around her cover, aiming her pistol at the spot the Soldier's head had been mere moments ago. Now, he was nowhere to be seen. Cursing to herself, she turned around to see if he was trying to sneak up on her. That was her big mistake._

 _The bullet ripped through her shoulder blade, causing her to jerk forward and press the hand not wielding her gun against the wound as blood made her hand slick. By the time she turned back to her original position, he had managed to disappear yet again._

 _Escaping from the abandoned warehouse without running into the Soldier again had been one of the more challenging instances of Veronika's career, but it also taught her a lesson – never turn your back on a ghost._

Or the time she realized he could be affected by words.

 _With both their weapons long ago lost, Veronika and the Winter Soldier had resorted to fighting each other with their fists. It didn't take long before they had ended up on the ground, locked in a wrestling match that neither could quite gain the upper hand in._

 _It was when he flipped her onto her back by slipping his leg between hers and jerking her to the side that she had gasped, trying to suck in any available air after her back slamming into the cement had knocked it out of her._

" _Slow your roll, lover," she had groaned breathlessly. "I didn't bring any protection."_

 _The words had triggered something in him, his grip on her tightening painfully before he pushed himself away from her. She didn't have more than a second to consider why he reacted the way he did before he was digging the heel of his foot into her gut. Luckily she had been able to escape by twisting his ankle, but it had been yet another close encounter._

 _This taught her yet another valuable lesson – only tease a ghost if you're willing to deal with the consequences._

Or the time had had recognized her.

" _I remember you, y'know," he had called into the darkness, taunting her as she hid from him. She worked hard to keep her breathing under control, though she couldn't say the same for her heartbeat as his words echoed between the snow covered trees._

" _I've never forgotten the precious Black Widows. I'll be the first to admit that the Wolf Spiders were a mistake, but you girls? You really were something. Especially you and your sister… What was her name again? Natalia? Maybe after I finish with you, I'll track her down. Send her your regards."_

 _If Veronika hadn't been trained to tune out such threats, the mention of her Lia would have sent her running after the Soldier and to her ultimate demise. Thankfully, she was smarter than that. He hadn't been able to find her that day before being called back in to Hydra._

 _This had been perhaps the most valuable lesson Veronika learned about the Winter Soldier - he had never been ordered, or even authorized, to kill her._

The quiet brush of shoes against concrete returned Veronika's mind to the task at hand, her hands stilling over the brick as she waited for the figure to pass by her hiding spot. She had been sure to choose a spot not too far off from the hidden facility, but still close enough to where she would be positive he would have to take this route. He hadn't disappointed.

The man had barely stepped in front of the darkened alleyway before he felt a hard grip on his shoulder, dragging him into the shadows. His first reaction was to fight back, but the hand slipping form his shoulder to his dominant wrist severely limited that option while twisting him until his cheek dug harshly against the bricks.

"Here's how this is going to play out," a voice whispered in his ear, the tone tinged with a strange sweetness that sounded much more threatening than kind. "I'm going to ask a question, and then you are going to answer it truthfully. For every lie you are going to have one more broken bone. If that doesn't work, I'll start taking limbs. Got it?"

This was an interrogation then. Time for Plan B. The edges of the brick cut into his cheek as he opened his mouth wide enough to work his tongue over his back molars, feeling for the difference between bone and plastic.

"Afraid I can't let you do that, you sly devil."

Just as the man had worked the false tooth from his gums, a hand was shoved into his mouth along with something sticky and… sweet? The foreign substance was wrapped around is backup plan before it was stolen from him. Once the hand was in front of his eyes, he was able to identify the material that encased his fake tooth as bubble gum.

"Now that you can't go killing yourself before we have the chance to have a proper conversation…"

The man was turned so that his back was now pressed to the wall, the face of his attacker finally revealed to him. His first thought was that of vague recognition, as if he had seen her before in passing. His second was that he hadn't been trained for this situation.

Veronika smiled at the man as hesitance became apparent in his eyes, patting his shoulder reassuringly. He didn't look anywhere near old enough to be mixed up with an organization like Hydra – but then again, she had been recruited for the Red Room at the ripe young age of nine. "Poor baby. Don't worry, I'm not one to break my word. If you simply answer my questions, I promise not to hurt you. Fair enough?"

Again his nerves were apparent as he paused before nodding. In a show of good faith, Veronika removed her hands from his shoulders.

He tried to run. If he could make it back to the quarters he shared with the other trainees quickly enough, perhaps his tardiness would be excused with only a light punishment. It was unlikely, but being thrown in solitary for a few days would surely be better than whatever this woman had intended for him.

With a regretful sigh Veronika latched onto the collar of his shirt, throwing him roughly back down the alleyway. He skidded across the concrete as she walked over to him lying on the ground. "Now, now," she tutted lightly. "Running wasn't part of the deal. I'm going to have to hurt you now."

Before he could get out more than a groan in protest, his pinky finger was bent at an unnatural angle and sending strong signals of pain to his screaming brain. He tried to yank his hand out of the woman's to cradle it against his chest, but she held firm.

"Oh, don't whine. I know that they do much worse to you in training. Unless they haven't taught you how to survive torture yet – in which case, I would be very afraid right about now if I were you."

"Hydra fears nothing." He had intended for his first words contributed to the exchange to sound strong and loyal, and was severely disappointed when they came out as a pained moan instead. This was _not_ going well for him so far.

"Perhaps," Veronika allowed with a small nod. "But you're not Hydra. You're just a kid that can't remember who he is or where he comes from. You're just another body for Hydra to inevitable sacrifice to their Lord and Savior Big Brother. Are you really going to protect them rather than yourself?"

Her words had struck just an inch too close to him for the agent to be comfortable, and for a moment he wondered if she knew who he was – _really._ Deciding that if he had known a woman like this in his past life then he would rather not remember, he cast those thoughts aside. "Cut off one head – "

"Two more, blah blah blah. I _know_ ," Veronika growled with irritation, rolling her eyes. With a twist of her own fingers, another one of his bent with a sickening snap. "Hydra never shuts up about their damned heads. That's not what I asked, however. If you want to keep your fingers, you better start giving smarter answers."

He wanted to be stronger than he was, but the irrefutable truth was that it only took four fingers for the rookie to give in. "Stop, stop! I – I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I do."

Veronika stopped herself before she could break his thumb, though she learned from her last mistake and kept her hand firmly in place. If he didn't answer her truthfully, she might just have to cut the thumb off rather than break it. "That's what I like to hear. So, answer me this sweet cheeks – Where is the Winter Soldier?"

" _What?_ "

"Four, three – "

"I don't know!" he nearly shouted, lowering his voice when he saw anger flash in her eyes. "I don't – I don't know. I'm just a trainee, you think they tell me where and when they're sending out the Asset?"

Veronika froze, her eyes adopting a distant look as her thoughts drifted to a place far away from the dirty, abandoned pathway she found herself in now. The Asset… She had heard that name before. Recently, in fact. _Very recently._

The distance slowly burned away into anger, her emotions showing freely on her face for only a moment before she quickly schooled them back into a smile towards the agent she held pinned against the ground. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

The agent was surprised by her change in questioning, but thankful to at least have one he knew how to answer. "Landon."

"You've been an immense help, Landon. Thank you for helping me realize what an idiot I've been."

Landon never had the chance to wonder what she meant by that, all thoughts ceasing when her cold hands wrapped around his neck just long enough to twist it until the pressure became too much for his body to handle. A tingling warmth trickled along the base of his spine the split second before his world went dark, only for him never to see the light again.

Veronika stood from her kneeling position, leaving Landon's corpse in a messy heap behind her without a second thought as she turned on her heel and marched out of the alleyway. _Livid_ was the only word that came to mind when she realized the betrayal her latest source had inflicted upon her.

 _Zach had just finished updating her on his latest information, and Veronika was preparing to leave when she spotted it. The folder in his hands that he hadn't opened during their meeting, whatever information it contained remaining out of her knowledge. It was unlabeled, but the corner of a wrinkled piece of paper stuck out the side with only one word visible – Asset._

" _What's that?" Veronika asked, gesturing towards the paper._

" _Nothing you need to know," Zach answered casually, shrugging his shoulders as he tucked the piece of paper back into its folder before zipping it away in his backpack. "It's for a different customer. Must have accidentally pulled it out when I was getting out your things."_

It had been a weak excuse. Even at the time Veronika had found the small tremor in his hand as he packed away the information to be suspicious, but her determination to track down her latest lead had overshadowed her logic.

She had allowed her desire to protect Natasha to cloud her judgement. _Again._

Veronika reached deep into her jacket pocket, producing a nearly empty pack of gum as she shook her head to herself. Chewing the wad of sugar was an addiction she had developed a few months back, finding the repetitive motion calming when she couldn't seem to reel in her frantic thoughts.

Zach had lied to her. She didn't know why, but she did know that she was going to find out. It was only a day's drive to his current safe house. If she left now, she would make it by early afternoon tomorrow – right as he was waking up, the lazy fucker. _Perfect_ , she thought. _Catch him off guard._

Veronika was absolutely seething the entire drive from her motel room to the house a few states over in Nevada. A plane would have been faster, but she didn't have the cash for a ticket. Besides, getting through security with her belongings would have been a pain in the ass. No, it was better to allow her anger towards her source to fester over the next 19 hours as she made her way to the dick's house.

And when she got there, he was going to be none too happy to see her.

* * *

 **Hello again!  
**

 **Just as I did with Sestra, Prizrak is the Russian title for Ghost.**

 **For those of you that read the other chapter I posted - then quickly deleted - for this story, welcome back! I realized mere hours after starting this story for the first time that I absolutely was not happy with where I was taking it, even from chapter one. I am _much_ happier with this chapter, and the plan I have for Veronika now overall.**

 **I'm not exactly sure when we'll actually be getting into CA:WS territory, but it won't be until chapter three or four- and even then, Veronika won't exactly be on the front lines. In case you've forgotten, she and Natasha didn't part on the best of terms.**

 **I hope this chapter was a sufficient opener for what will hopefully be a worthy sequel to Sestra, and that you will continue to enjoy this story. So, without further ado ...**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 Preview**

Zach awoke to a cold pressure against his forehead, his eyes fluttering open to a sight that made his hear flutter in an all too unpleasant way.

"Good morning, sunshine!"


	2. Mission Incomplete

**Миссия Неполное**

 _Mission Incomplete_

* * *

When Veronika finally made it to Zach's house, it took her a few minutes longer than usual to break her way in through the front door. He had increased his security since the last time she had been here. Judging by that and the fact that his living room was littered with packing boxes, she thought that he must have realized how badly he fucked up.

The only thing he had left sitting out was his self-constructed laptop resting on the circular wooden table beside the small couch. It looked like something out of a B-rated sci-fi movie, with all the duct tape and wires attached to it. Veronika had never cared for the dingy thing. It did prove her suspicions, however, that Zach was still sleeping. If he had been awake, he would be sitting in front of it.

Veronika pushed the ridiculously uncomfortable sitting chair away, opting for crouching in front of the screen.

 _PIN CODE REQUIRED_

Six glaring white boxes were lined beneath the demand, daring Veronika to attempt to crack the code. If she was here for information that could be found on his computer, she might have tried a few times before simply forcing Zach to type in the code. She wanted paper, though. So she straightened her back with a sigh before making her way towards the bedroom, slipping her weapon out of the waistband of her jeans. She highly doubted she would need it, but she also _really_ wanted to terrify him.

Zach's snores grated against her ears as she moved to stand at his bedside, glaring down at the man that had kept information from her – information that she had paid him for, nonetheless. Moving the barrel of the gun to rest between his eyes, she fixed her face into its usual grin before kicking his bedframe.

Zach awoke to a cold pressure against his forehead, his eyes fluttering open to a sight that made his heart flutter in an all too unpleasant way.

"Good morning, sunshine!"

"V – "

"Uh-uh," Veronika tutted with a click of her tongue, cocking the gun. "Only friends get to call me that, I'm afraid. And you haven't been very friendly. Have you, Zach?"

His heart felt like it might burst out of his chest if it beat any faster. He had to diffuse the situation – preferably before his highly valuable brains ended up splattered against these cheap pillows. This was most definitely _not_ how he intended to die.

"We can talk about this. Come on, V…eronika," he finished when she quirked an eyebrow, holding his hands defensively in front of his chest. " _Veronika._ Be logical about this! Killing me will only give you momentary satisfaction, while keeping me alive promises you much more information for a significantly lower price! It's a win-win for all parties involved, right?"

Veronika remained quiet for a moment, seeming to consider his offer before slowly removing the gun from his head. He let out a sigh of relief far too soon, only sitting up an inch before the butt of the pistol collided with his temple. She hadn't swung with enough force to knock him out, just enough to make it _really_ hurt.

Zach clutched his now pounding head as he curled in on himself, cursing the bitch in front of him. "God _dammit_ , Veronika! I'm trying to make a deal!"

"Problem is, I generally only deal with people who don't stab me in the back."

A rough hand latched onto the back of Zach's shirt, dragging him from the bed and pulling him into the living room. The bright light from the windows blinded him as his head screamed in protest, feeling like he had the worst hangover of his life. The legs of the chair scraped against the hardwood floors as Veronika returned it to its position in front of the computer before dropping Zach in the seat. Her grip was firm on his shoulders as the room slowly stopped spinning, his eyes refocusing on the anger smoldering behind the mirth in her features.

"I didn't stab you in the back," he argued quietly, feeling as if speaking to loudly would cause him to lose the day old pizza he had eaten before passing out. "I just… withheld information – I admit that."

"Why?" The question sounded more like a demand than a request coming from her.

"Why else? Somebody else paid more for it."

A frustrated sigh slipped through Veronika's lips, her fingers digging into Zach's shoulders with every word that left his mouth. " _Who?_ "

"Come on, V," Zach scoffed. "You know I can't give out any names. It's bad for business."

He barely managed to finish the sentence before the pistol had found its way back to his forehead, the barrel digging deep into the same indent that had been left earlier. "So is being dead," she said nonchalantly, as if he should have thought of that sooner. "You don't seem to have any problems with that, however – despite it being the more immediate threat."

"Okay, okay!" His eyes clenched shut as his hands flew in front of his face. "I'll give you the stupid file!"

That surprised her – enough so that she actually lowered the gun. "You mean you still have it? I thought you sold it to somebody else!"

"I did," he explained. "But they haven't come to pick it up yet. Just asked me to hold onto it for them until they could get here. That's all I know."

Veronika nodded a few times before taking a step away from Zach and motioning around the small house. "All right then, Z. Go fetch."

He rolled his eyes at being treated like a dog, but knew better than to say anything as he stood from the seat. Careful to keep his hands in plain sight as to not give her any ideas, he moved towards the coffee table in front of the broken TV. Taped to the bottom was the file that Veronika quickly snatched from his hands, causing him to flinch at her sudden movement.

"Relax," she chuckled lightheartedly, almost like she didn't still have a gun pulled on him. "It's not like I'm going to shoot you… Probably."

"You'll forgive me if that doesn't make me feel any better."

"Will I?"

The two went quiet as Veronika pulled the file open, her eyes immediately finding the word ASSET in capitalized bold letters across the top of the front page. Below that was an amalgamation of information she knew she would have to memorize later on, but for now all she needed to know was that this was the file she wanted.

Snapping the file closed, Veronika offered Zach her brightest smile before stuffing it inside her jacket for later use. "Perfect. You always deliver, Z – well, usually."

He nodded slowly, his fingers tapping nervously against the sides of his legs. "Right, right. I always deliver… So you – you'll be expecting me to deliver more in the future. Yeah?"

Truthfully, Veronika hadn't decided whether or not to kill Zach. For the last four months he had been a steady and reliable source of information, but in her line of business it was best not to trust anyone who lied to you – even once. That may be hypocritical of her, but that was beside the point. The point was that –

Veronika heard the bullet before she saw it, the shattering of the window followed by the distinct whistle before it found its target – the back of Zach's head. The sound of breaking glass had thankfully sent Veronika to the floor, so when the bullet went through the back of his skull and out through his forehead before embedding itself in the wall she was left more surprised than injured. If she had hesitated only a moment longer…

"Motherfucker," Veronika hissed, tightening her hand around her gun before inspecting the room to make sure no armies were attempting to break down the doors. It was unlikely, as they most likely wouldn't have started with a sniper, but if she had learned anything it was being safe was almost always better than being sorry.

When no one came shouting through the doors, Veronika used her elbows to crawl underneath Zach's desk before ensuring her pistol wouldn't jam. The chances of Zach being the target with her merely a bystander were slim to none, meaning whoever had just killed him would be coming for her next. And there was only one person that was coming for her now, as far as she knew.

The front door slammed open, splinters of wood sinking themselves into the floor and wall from the force of the kick. Veronika pulled herself further back until she was behind the couch, moving slowly and silently as she focused her hearing on the deliberate footsteps of the intruder.

"I know you're in here," the deep voice taunted, sending an involuntary shiver down Veronika's back. For as long as she lived – which may not be very long at all, at this rate – she would never grow used to the subtle threat all his words held, or the way they rumbled through his chest filled with hidden meanings. "выйти, выйти, где вы находитесь." _Come out, come out wherever you are._

She watched her right, waiting for his feet to come into view. The second she saw him she would shoot his ankles, immobilizing him. Once he was down, she would pin him to the floor and plant her remaining seven bullets so deep in his brain even _he_ couldn't possibly survive. Then it would be over. She would be safe – Natasha would be safe. All she had to do was wait for him to come into view…

His fingers tangled in her hair, dragging her out from behind the couch on the side she hadn't anticipated he would attack from. Immediately she wrapped a hand around his wrist, holding his hand closer to her head in an attempt to stop him from ripping the roots out of her skull. She had intended to dig her fingernails into his skin, to pry herself away from him. Unfortunately, there was no skin to break. _Shit._

Veronika was confident that if the Winter Soldier hadn't fisted his metal hand in her hair, she would have been able to free herself. Either way she was released, though much less gently thanks to him.

A pained groan rose out of Veronika's chest when she collided with the wall, but when fighting the Soldier there was little time to recuperate after an attack. So, ignoring the throbbing in the back of her head, she pushed herself away from the wall and back onto her feet. The moment she was standing their eyes met, a smirk plain on his lips. "I believe you have something that belongs to me."

"Actually, it originally belonged to me," she argued, using this precious time to stretch out her muscles in preparation for the impending fight. "You're just upset that your plan to steal it out from under me before I could get here failed. Zach always liked me best."

"Then it's a good thing he won't be a problem anymore." The Soldier stepped forward, holding a hand towards Veronika before wiggling his fingers. "Since I'm in a hurry, I'll give you an option. Hand the file over, and I'll leave."

Perhaps if Veronika was running from the Winter Soldier instead of trying to kill him, she might have taken his offer. In fact, she was _positive_ that she would have. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. "Afraid not," she sighed theatrically. "I _really_ want this file. Guess you'll just have to be late."

If he was surprised she hadn't accepted his offer, it didn't show in his features as his hand previously held out waiting curled into a fist and swung at her.

Having anticipated the attack, Veronika dodged to the left and flew right past him, running for the gun she had dropped behind the couch when he grabbed her. He was quick, but not quick enough. Knowing there would be no way for her to pick the gun up and properly aim at him before he could stop her, she settled instead for snatching the gun off the ground and simply firing in his general direction. That was enough to distract him until she could get further away.

 _Seven bullets left. Make them count._

The Soldier had left his sniper rifle by the door, realizing that it wouldn't be of much use in close quarters. This, however, left him in a precarious situation – one where his enemy was armed, but he was not. His only option would be to make sure she didn't have a gun either, whether that involved him taking it form her or simply disarming her. Either way, he would regain the upper hand.

Once she reached the kitchen she stopped running, turning and pointing the gun at the man chasing after her. He had come too close for comfort, so yet again she fired twice more at him without being positive either bullet would hit.

 _Five._

Both bullets left smoking holes in the wall just over his shoulder as he tried to land a punch to her gut. She managed to avoid the brunt of the blow, though his knuckles managed to glance off her ribs. Expecting her to make this move, he held his other arm straight out to block her path. As she tried to duck beneath his arm, he latched onto the wrist of the arm holding the gun. His fingers squeezed the inside of her wrist, jamming his thumb on her pressure point with inhuman strength.

Against her will her fingers uncurled, dropping the weapon against the tile floor with a resounding _clang._ In retaliation, she twisted her body to face his until she was able to jerk her knee up and land a solid blow to his abdomen. His hold on her wrist remained strong as he doubled over, which managed to being her to the floor with him as she hooked her foot around his ankle to trip him.

With both assassins in a pile on the floor, it became a mad scramble for the gun that had landed just out of reach. Veronika stretched her free arm towards the weapon, growling when her fingers brushed the metal only moments before the Soldier shoved his palm out and knocked it further away.

"Just let me kill you already," she grunted when he prevented her from grabbing the gun. "I'm sure we'll both be much happier once you're gone."

"I can't let you do that," he responded, sounding as exasperated as she felt. "I haven't completed my mission."

She kicked her legs free from his, clawing her way closer to the gun. "Who gives a shit about your mission? Nobody important, I'll tell you that."

He grabbed her shoulder, glad that the tiles provided no friction making it almost too easy for him to continue to slide her back and away from her only chance of actually hurting him. "I can't stop until I get that file back."

Realizing that trying to get her weapon back was a lost cause, Veronika decided on a different approach. Reaching inside her jacket, she produced the file he wanted so badly and slid it across the floor. He told her already that he hadn't come for her, so why should he choose to continue fighting her now that what he truly wanted was a mere few feet away?

As she intended, the moment the Soldier saw the papers scatter out of folder and slide across the tiles he had pushed himself away from her to snatch it up. Once he was distracted, she disentangled her leg from his and pulled it up to her side, grasping the blade inside her boot. It was short and thin like a letter opener – not enough to kill him, but definitely enough to hurt like a bitch.

The Soldier had managed to cram most of the sensitive information back into its casing before he felt it. His cybernetic arm sparked and tensed when the blade was shoved into the shoulder, sending painful electric currents surging through his chest. "Сука," he snarled, grasping the blade she had abandoned in his shoulder in favor of stealing the file back from him. _Bitch._

She hadn't been able to grab every scrap of paper, but she knew that staying any longer would be pushing her luck. The Soldier was already moving to stand, having just yanked the blade from his arm – now the one out of the two of them to be wielding a weapon.

Though she wasn't happy with it, Veronika knew that taking out the Winter Soldier was a mission would take time and patience rather than guts and strength. She hated leaving him, knowing that the next time they met he was going to hold even more of a grudge against her. But he'd had the upper hand – even more so than usual – and she certainly wasn't ready to die yet.

So she ran.

The Soldier watched as she ran from the house, her blade in his hand and his file in hers. Anger at being unable to stop her _yet again_ boiled in his blood, but he knew he couldn't follow her. He had already been gone long enough – his superiors were surely going to ask questions. Without permission from them, he wouldn't have the time needed to properly track her down again tonight. He would have to wait – again. An unpleasant tingle vibrated from his metal arm, reminding him of the damage she had cause. Now not only would he have to come up with a convincing lie for his whereabouts, but also for the injury to his arm that the specialized mechanics would spend the next few hours rewiring.

Let her follow him, then. He had a new mission in a new part of the country waiting for him. His fight with this woman could wait until he was finished taking out his newest target. Until then, he would be forced to let her know all she could learn from that file. It didn't make him happy, but there was nothing he could do to go against his orders. And for now, those orders would lead him to Washington, D.C.

* * *

 **Chapter 3 Preview**

She looked over the name once more to ensure she hadn't misread – that she hadn't imagined the words on the page in front of her. When they refused to change into a different name, Veronika could only sigh, resigning herself to her fate.

 _Steven G. Rogers_


	3. In The Morning

**утром**

 _In The Morning_

* * *

Steve had been explicitly ignoring Natasha since their extraction from the Lemurian Star nearly six hours ago now, going out of his way to not even look at her. He may be a generally forgiving and understanding person, but he also proved to be quite petty when he wanted to be – at least in Natasha's opinion. Sure, she had nearly jeopardized the mission to save the hostages in favor of preserving stolen information. And sure, she hadn't told Steve about it. And _sure_ , that had nearly resulted in the two of them being ripped to bits by a rogue grenade.

Okay, maybe she understood why he had been ignoring her. That didn't mean she had to like it, however. "How long are you going to pout?"

Steve shot her an exasperated look from the passenger seat of the SHIELD-standard SUV, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. He hadn't exactly volunteered to ride back with her to the Triskelion, but with the other two cars overflowing with rescued hostages he hadn't exactly had a choice. "I'm not _pouting_ ," he argued with a quiet scoff. "You hid sensitive intel from me that very nearly ruined everything we spent the last three weeks working for. I think that gives me the right to be just a little upset."

Natasha hummed her disagreement, but otherwise didn't argue. "Point taken… Seriously, though. I really think you should call that nurse."

Steve tried not to smile – he really did – but he never was very good at concealing his feelings. Natasha smirked triumphantly when he tried to conceal his face by looking out the window, knowing that she had won. Not that it was a competition, necessarily, but she felt victorious nonetheless.

Then she remembered her moment of weakness on the Lemurian Star.

 _Fingers poised over the keyboard, Natasha hesitated for the first time in a long time during a mission. Her instructions were clear – find any stolen intel and retrieve it. Simple recon, nothing she couldn't handle. But with all that information accessible at the simple press of a key, she couldn't help but wonder…_

 _It would be so easy to type her name, to find out of these men had anything on her. To potentially find what rock she was hiding under, and where she had been running to all these years. To finally have that closure she craved for so long after finding that note._

 _You haven't seen the last of me. Be careful._

 _She had promised herself that she would forget, that she wouldn't go down this road again. Veronika had made her choice, and Natasha had made hers. Still, with the temptation so close at hand…_

But then Steve had come into the room, and her curiosity had stopped there. It had been for the best. If Natasha had entered Veronika's name into that database, it would have been permanently in the system – and wasn't that the whole reason she hadn't gone to Nick about her two years ago? To keep her out of the system? Yes, it had been for the best that Natasha hadn't indulged herself.

A frown tugged at Steve's lips when he turned back and caught the expression on her face – or rather, the lack of one. If Natasha showed no emotion, it usually meant that she had once again delved into the deeper, darker corners of her mind. While there were quite a few things that could have caused that look, Steve was willing to bet he knew exactly what was causing it now.

"It's been two years, Nat." He spoke gently, not wanting to upset her but also wanting her to be realistic. "Veronika isn't coming back."

Natasha blinked a few times before flashing Steve her most sarcastic grin, rolling her eyes for good measure. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. What makes you think I didn't know that already?"

"I might not be as skilled as you are at interrogation, but I'm not blind. You've been thinking about her again lately."

"Or maybe you're projecting," Natasha bluffed, keeping her eyes firmly on the road ahead. "Maybe you've been thinking about her, but you don't know why, so you're trying to get inside my head to find a reason. Well, I'll tell you right now, Rogers – once you get in, you'll never get out."

Steve pursed his lips in thought, observing the nonchalance that practically radiated off Natasha. "You don't have to keep me at arm's length, Nat. If you want to talk about it, I'm here."

Her shoulders wanted to tense, her jaw wanted to clench, her fingers wanted to tighten around the steering wheel. But they didn't. As per usual, Natasha kept herself cool, calm and collected on the outside with a manufactured smile and an air of natural confidence as her insides stewed with mixed emotions. "Thanks, Steve. But there's nothing to talk about. She left, she's not coming back. End of story."

* * *

Veronika didn't stop running for a long time. Running from certain death was in her nature, even if she really wished she had the balls to stand up to the Winter Soldier once and for all. _But then I'd be dead, and who would really win in that situation?_

It wasn't until she had just crossed the border into Kansas that she finally slowed down, hoping that three states had earned her one night's sleep. Checking into what she was sure was a rodent-infested motel for the night under a false name, Veronika locked herself into the room that stank of stale alcohol with a wary sigh. The life she had chosen for herself certainly wasn't a luxurious one.

After the day she'd had, Veronika thought it appropriate she allow herself a small comfort before delving into the folder she had risked life and limb for. Having lost her gun and dagger, the only item Veronika had left hidden on her person was a small music player. Setting the device on the nightstand next to the bed, she scrolled through her long list of songs before tapping one of her favorites.

It began with the piano, high-pitched and dreamlike as the song started slowly. A few moments later a cello took over the melody, the piano harmonizing in the background. Soft drums tapped out the beat, happy to linger in the background of the music. There were no lyrics – just how Veronika liked it. She preferred to indulge herself on the music itself rather than imagined stories of lost lives and love gone wrong. Her life was screwed up as it was, she didn't feel the need to sympathize with those who spent their lives singing in a studio.

As the music played on in the background, Veronika settled herself on the bed as comfortably as she could manage before flipping the file folder open. A few of the pages had been lost in her struggle with the Soldier, but she had been able to retrieve the majority.

The first few pages detailed procedures that almost made Veronika feel bad for the guy. They involved serums and needles, electrocution and freezing, body and mind augmentation. Reminding her too much of the torture she'd been forced to endure as a child, Veronika skipped ahead.

When she spotted the summary of what the Soldier had been up to during the majority of the Cold War, Veronika once again paused in her flipping to read a few lines. Though it spoke mostly of his failed attempts to train the young Wolf Spider recruits, there was mention of his short time with the Black Widows.

 _Despite the Red Room's greatest efforts, none of the Wolf Spider initiates hold near the same promise as the Black Widows. We sent the Asset in to work with both sides of the program, hoping the presence of a successful recalibration would inspire belief in the system and encourage the pace of their training. However, it only seemed to benefit the opposite. It has come to our attention that the recruits quickly became frightened of the Asset, causing them to freeze in their spars and injure themselves more quickly than was usual._

 _The Asset has since been pulled from the training program. He will be moved back into cryostasis until further information can be provided on his next mission._

Veronika couldn't help but scoff at the vague description – "quickly became frightened". That wasn't how she remembered his arrival at all. She hadn't "quickly become frightened". Her blood had run cold in her veins, her eyes dutifully tracking his every movement as he slinked around her, her trained fists missing his form attempt after failed attempt. She hadn't been frightened. She had been _petrified_ , sure that she could never live up to Hydra's standards – to _his_ standards. And if she couldn't be the best, then what was the point of them keeping her around?

Veronika shook the morbid thoughts from her head, reminding herself that she as only dredging up memories from a period of her life that no longer affected her… Except it did. Right at this very moment it affected her, dictating where she ran to and who she ran from. Forty years after their first encounter and still she hadn't reached his level. Still she had to fight tooth and nail just to claw herself away from death's cold grip. From his cold, metal grip.

She turned the page.

Littered among the words were pictures of the Winter Soldier in various contexts. One of him trapped in a metal tube with only his face visible behind a frosted window, his eyes closed and his hair brushed neatly back. Another of him standing in the snow, staring hatefully at the metal arm attached to his side. Holding a sniper rifle, standing above a fallen opponent, digging through a corpse's pockets – the list went on. Only one truly caught her eye.

Faded sepia coloring with frayed edges, showing just how old the image truly was. The profile of a young man, his face turned as his shimmering eyes were captured by something the camera hadn't seen. His lips were turned up in an endearing grin that wasn't really a smile, but wasn't really a smirk either. The hat on his head that labeled him as US Army was tilted slightly, showing that though he was respectful enough to wear the uniform he was determined to wear it with his own individual twist.

It took Veronika a few minutes to realize that this was the same man who had pinned her to the floor with his fingers closed tightly around her throat only hours ago.

Her fingers stilled over the paper as she came to the realization, her wide eyes glued to the happy image. It obviously had to have been taken long before he had joined Hydra. Long before he had entered her life. She wandered for a moment who he had been before he became the monster he was today… but then she stopped herself.

It didn't matter who he was before. He was a monster now – a monster who had every intention of killing her at the first sign of weakness. A monster she was going to have to take out before he could get his hands on her or anyone else she cared about.

Forcing her eyes away from the happy image, Veronika skipped through the rest of the contents until she found what she was looking for. The details of his latest mission. "Perfect," she muttered to herself, readjusting her position on the lumpy mattress. "Of course he's headed to Washington, D.C. Just my luck."

Veronika didn't want to be anywhere _near_ Washington, and with good reason. Firstly, because it was the home of SHIELD's headquarters, which led directly into her second and most important reason – Natasha would be there.

"Okay, no big deal. I can just avoid her. It's not like she's actively looking for me…"

She read over where he was going, and what his mission was before finding the name of the target. Veronika felt her heart stutter in her chest as her fingers curled dangerously, the paper wrinkling in on itself under the pressure. She looked over the name once more to be ensure she hadn't misread – that she hadn't imagined the words on the page in front of her. When they refused to change into a different name, Veronika could only sigh, resigning herself to her fate.

 _Steven G. Rogers_

Deciding she had been tortured enough for one day, Veronika slammed the folder shut and tossed it to the foot of the bed. The music that had previously calmed her racing nerves began to irritate her, so with a groan of annoyance she latched onto the music player and threw it against the wall. She couldn't even bring herself to care when it tore through the paper-thin wall, the melody echoing ominously from inside the drywall.

After running her fingers through her hair, Veronika stood from the bed and marched into the bathroom to slap freezing drops of water on her cheeks. Not feeling up to digging around inside of the wall and finding who-knows-what, Veronika took the chipped cup that was meant to be a resting place for her toothbrush and filled it with the water. Once she was back in her room, she dumped the water through the hole. She heard the music crackle for a few moments before finally going silent, at which point she dropped the cup inside the hole and returned to her place on the bed.

Without bothering to even crawl under the covers, Veronika dropped onto the bed with her face buried in the pillow and willed herself to sleep. In the morning she would have to pull herself together. In the morning she would begin her trek to Washington despite every bit of selfishness that had been drilled into her demanding she run in the opposite direction. In the morning she would once again spread her arms out by her side, screaming at the Soldier to take his best shot.

And hopefully, in the morning, she would not get herself killed.

* * *

 **Chapter 4 Preview**

Steve stood panting on the rooftop, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion when he couldn't locate the assassin. He had just been right there, how could he have possibly gotten away so quickly? Then, in the corner of his vision, he spotted a shadow. Pivoting on his heel to face the possible enemy, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face before it too disappeared into the night.

* * *

 **So a little bit of Steve and Nat in the beginning there. A main factor of this story being from the third-person POV is so that we can see all sides of the story, and not just Veronika's view. Throughout the story we'll be seeing more snippets of different characters (including a special metal-armed cinnamon roll), and I hope I'll capture them as well as an OC's frame of mind.**

 **Let me know how you think Nat and Steve will react to Veronika's reappearance, and just how integrated you think Nika will become in SHIELD's role of this war. As always, I'd love to hear any opinions and I will see you all in the next one.**


	4. Close To The Edge

**Рядом с краем**

 _Close To The Edge_

* * *

It took nearly twenty-four full hours for Veronika to finally enter Washington D.C., thanks to a few stops along the way necessary to gathering the missing bits of information required to carry out her mission – save Steve.

Though Veronika had little time to truly bond with any of the Avengers, she was well aware that Steve had been one of the few to fight for her freedom. It had been no secret to her that the Avengers didn't trust her, which left her unsurprised when Natasha had informed her of their plans to lock her away when their fight against Ivan was over. Aside from Natasha, only Clint and Steve had argued her side. She respected that, and would return the favor.

With more than a few broken bones left in her wake, Veronika had managed to secure the address for Steve's apartment - the Winter Soldier's next stop. She had no idea how long after her last encounter with the Soldier it had taken him to get that assignment, however, meaning she was unaware as to just how much of a head start he had – ranging anywhere from a few minutes to a few days.

With the image of Steve and the Soldier's confrontation burned into her mind, Veronika climbed out of her stolen car and raced through the night, towards the building she knew Steve was in. She only had to make it before the Soldier. If she was fast enough, she could drag Steve to safety – willingly or not, she would save him. Everything else could be figured out later.

* * *

 _SHIELD COMPROMISED_

The bold white letters taunted Steve as he stared at Fury's phone, every muscle in his body tensing at the words. Of course he had been immediately suspicious at seeing a bruised and bloody Nick Fury lounging in his living room, but those two words confirmed his fears. The organization he had dedicated his life to over the last two years – the company he had worked with; the people he had trusted – were against him.

Eyebrows furrowing in a mixture of resigned disappointment, Steve made sure to stick to Fury's cover story of being kicked out of his home by his wife as he spoke. "Who else knows about your wife?"

"Just… my friends," Fury answered with a strained sigh as he pushed himself out of the chair he had previously claimed, clutching his bruised ribs with one fist as the other held the phone out to where Steve could read it.

 _YOU AND ME_

Steve considered that for a moment – Fury claiming that he trusted no one else but the two men currently in the room. What of Natasha, or Maria? It seemed too convenient to be true, especially coming from somebody like Fury. "Is that what we are?"

"That's up to you."

There was less than a second of silence before a hole appeared in the wall, accompanied by a muffled gunshot.

* * *

 _Rage._

Pure, unadulterated loathing coursed through the Winter Soldier's veins as Veronika's fist connected with his jaw, knocking him off balance and sending him tumbling across the roof. He had been so focused on his shot, he hadn't even heard her coming. Thanks to his carelessness – _no, the bitch's interference_ – he had done something he couldn't remember ever having done before.

He missed.

* * *

Steve wasted no time in grabbing Fury's arm, tugging him behind cover. The director's eyes were wide as the realization dawned on him how close he had just come to dying for the second time that day. Neither man had any idea who was lurking outside the apartment or how he had managed to miss a clear shot, but they did know that they were immensely glad he had.

Once he was sure Fury was unhurt – well, at least that he had gained no new injuries – Steve remembered the flash of silver he had seen through his window and set his jaw in determination before reaching for his shield. "Stay down," he commanded Fury before rising to his feet.

Steve moved to chase after the would-be-assassin, but was stopped before he could take more than two steps when his front door was kicked in. Yet another wave of confusion consumed him when he saw his neighbor Kate stride in with a pistol at the ready, her usually caring eyes cold and calculating as she observed the apartment.

* * *

Veronika shook her hand with a hiss of pain, not having expected her knuckles to land on hard plastic rather than the Soldier's chin. She quickly pushed the mild injury to the back of her mind, however, watching as the Winter Soldier slowly pulled himself to his feet. Even with his face hidden behind a mask and goggles she had never seen him wear before, she could feel the anger radiating off him in dangerous pulses.

She knew that she had screwed up his shot. She knew that she had pissed him off, and she knew that she should be quivering in her boots right about now. Instead, she raised her hands in a defensive fighting stance before smirking at the man before her.

"What's with the mask, lover? Don't want me to see how afraid you are?"

Veronika was not his mission. She was nothing but an interference, a hindrance, and he had been told _exactly_ how to deal with those who interfered with his mission.

Marching forward, the Soldier wasted no time in mimicking Veronika's stance with one key difference – he was on the offensive. She kept her arms raised as a shield, waiting for the perfect moment before daring to even breathe.

* * *

Kate – _Agent 13_ – glanced from Steve to the bullet hole in the wall to Fury behind the partition before switching out the gun in her hand for a radio. She spoke in military terms Steve vaguely recognized, but what the code translated to was unknown to him. She had loosely explained that she had been appointed to protect him by Fury, which earned the director a disapproving glare from the super soldier.

When he did so, Fury waved the soldier over as Kate had her back turned to the pair. Keeping his guard raised high, Steve approached the director and kneeled at his side. To his surprise, Fury took his hand in his own and pressed a small silver device into his palm. "Trust no one," Fury muttered too quietly for Kate to hear. When Steve only stared at him in confusion, Fury only nodded as if to reassure himself that he was making the right decision before looking away from Steve and back to Kate.

Regardless of the questions Steve had for Kate and Fury, he couldn't get his mind off the man outside. He knew that if he didn't act fast, he was going to lose whatever slim chance he had of catching the perpetrator. So when the man on Kate's radio asked if they had eyes on the shooter, Steve readjusted his grip on the shield before turning to the window.

"Tell them I'm in pursuit."

* * *

Though she'd begun the fight with the upper hand, Veronika quickly found herself back in the familiar position of struggling to simply keep herself breathing as she fought off the Winter Soldier. Both grunted with both pain and irritation as fists landed on both sides, the tension between the two thicker than blood as they backed to the edge of the fourth rood they had ended up on after taking turns chasing each other across the skyline.

Veronika didn't like not being able to see the Soldier's face. Though it wasn't very often or very obvious, she used to be able to tell where he planned on attacking her judging by the subtle aim of his eyes or the direction his face twitched in. With only darkness to look upon, she found herself at yet another disadvantage.

That simply wouldn't do.

Using one of the oldest tricks in the book, Veronika slipped her foot between the Soldier's legs before wrapping the tips of her toes around his ankle and yanking him forward. He faltered in her direction, allowing her to slip around him with relative ease. Once behind him, Veronika latched onto his shoulder with one hand in an attempt to keep him leaning forward while the fingers on her free hand worked on detaching his mask.

Quickly realizing what it was she planned to do, the Soldier tried to retaliate by jerking his body to face her. With her hand on his shoulder, however, it proved a fruitless effort. Growling in frustration, he reached back to latch onto her elbow.

The second his strong grip was around the crease of her elbow, she knew her time was limited. Recognizing that the mask had too complicated of a latch to be undone with one hand in a matter of seconds, she changed tactics.

As the Soldier dug into Veronika's sensitive pressure point, forcing her hand to instantly drop limply against his shoulder, the sight in front of him became half a shade lighter. Which could only mean one thing – she had stolen his goggles. It wasn't that he particularly cared for the piece of equipment that bothered him. It was the fact that she had been able to steal them that irked the Winter Soldier.

Knowing that at least his eyes would be visible to her now, Veronika abandoned the goggles by tossing them off the side of the building just as the Soldier rounded on her. His grip remained firm on her arm as he loomed ever closer, causing her to flinch as he snatched her other elbow in the impossibly tight grip of his metal arm.

"There you are," she taunted in a voice strained with the discomfort in her arms, grinning with victory rather than her usual mirth. "I don't like not being able to see you when we fight."

In that moment, the Winter Soldier had never been more sure of just how much he hated this infuriating woman. He hated that his mask prevented him from screaming at her. He hated that he _wanted_ to scream at her. He hated that he was holding her at the edge of a twelve story building and hadn't tossed her over the edge yet because he was _distracted_. He hated that she made him _doubt_.

Never in his decades of service to making this world a better place by any means necessary had he ever doubted. And yet here he was, with all the power to end her intrusive life... and he didn't.

Furious gazes were exchanged, Veronika's dark blue clashing against the Soldier's deep brown in the black of night as his steel grip on her became impossibly stronger. She was sure that this was the part where he would toss her over the edge as carelessly as she had thrown his goggles – so sure that she had already started running through the best way to land on the concrete below as to minimize the damage.

Imagine her surprise when he instead tossed her to his right, causing her to skid painfully against the roof. The action left her with deep cuts in her palms from trying to stop herself from rolling as the hair that had come loose from its knot at the back of her head clung to her cheeks. She didn't even have the time to look up before the sound of shattering glass tore through the darkness that had previously been occupied by only the sound of her harsh panting.

* * *

Steve rolled deftly across the rooftop after diving through the window, wasting no time in lifting his shield after spotting the shooter and throwing it with all the strength he could muster. Ideally, the weapon would have slammed against a sensitive spot causing just enough pain to make the man falter, leaving Steve enough time to apprehend him and demand to know why he had just attempted to kill the Director of SHIELD. At the very least it should have proved a distraction.

With speed Steve had only seen from those who had been scientifically enhanced, the shooter whirled on his feet quick enough to catch the shield single-handedly. Disbelief flooded across Steve's features at the sight before him, though it was almost immediately replaced by alertness when the man's metal – _metal?_ – arm pulled back, preparing to launch the shield back at its owner.

Steve barely managed to catch the shield as it connected with his gut, causing him to slide back towards the edge of the roof he had just jumped over as he struggled to keep himself steady. By the time he stopped sliding and looked back up, he found himself alone. Steve stood panting on the rooftop, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion when he couldn't locate the assassin. He had just been right there, how could he have possibly gotten away so quickly? Then, in the corner of his vision, he spotted a shadow. Pivoting on his heel to face the potential enemy, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face before it too disappeared into the night.

Having only seen a brief flash of whoever else had been on the roof, Steve was unable to identify the shadow who had witnessed his encounter with the assassin, but he was determined to find out. If he couldn't have to metal-armed shooter himself, he would at the very least have an eye witness.

Letting these thoughts guide him, Steve spared one last glance to the shadows the shooter had hidden in before hurrying to the right side of the building. He kept his muscles tensed and ready for a fight just in case he had mistaken the figure's identity, but something deep in his gut told him that he wasn't wrong. A simple peek to the figure racing down the building's fire escape confirmed his suspicions.

"Hey!" he shouted, hopping down onto the grated pathways while making sure to keep his eyes trained on the fleeing figure. "Wait!"

The figure ignored his words, their left arm cradling their right as they ran. Unwilling to give up so easily, Steve set chase. It was clear to anyone who would have bothered to look that the shadow was injured, and badly. Steve wasn't sure if he considered them incredibly brave or incredibly stupid for continuing to run despite their obvious pain.

Regardless, he found himself guiltily glad that their pain slowed their pace as he was easily able to catch up to them in the alleyway below. As the figure hurried down the last flight of metal steps, Steve launched himself over the railing of the flight above them, landing deftly in front of their intended path.

As Steve stood from his crouch, his eyes met those of the figure he had been chasing. He wasn't sure if it was relief or worry that twisted in his gut as recognition dawned on him.

A smirk that Steve found all too familiar spread across the woman's lips as she chuckled darkly, an agonized wince twitching in her cheek as the action caused waves of pain to reverberate throughout her body. "Hello again, gorgeous."

"Veronika."

* * *

 **As you could probably tell from the fact that Fury was saved by Veronika (albeit inadvertently) this story will not be following the Winter Soldier story exactly. I won't give away exactly how much will change, but I can say that as of now I don't plan on making this story completely AU. _As of now._ My stories tend to change according to my mood... :)**

 **Let me know what you thought of the interaction between Nika and The Winter Soldier in this chapter, as well as the splits between perspectives. Was it too much? Was it interesting? Difficult to read? All opinions welcome, as long as they're constructive a.k.a. non-hateful. And, as always, see you in the next one.**

* * *

 **Chapter 5 Preview**

The silent atmosphere between the two was tense to say the very least, and it was increasingly clear to the both of them that neither had intended on being the one to break that silence. While Steve fidgeted uncomfortably, Veronika focused on simply remaining upright after her encounter with the Winter Soldier. She had known she would have to face Steve eventually, but she certainly hadn't planned on it being so soon.


	5. To Kill A Ghost

**Убить призрак**

 _To Kill A Ghost_

* * *

Engines revved beneath him as headlights cast long, shimmering shadows across the tall D.C. skyline. The Winter Soldier sat perched atop a rooftop far from the facility he had been instructed to return to immediately after his mission, his thoughts a million miles away from the punishment he would undoubtedly receive not only for his failure to perform, but for disobeying orders. He was far too distracted to find it in himself to care at the moment, however.

With his feet tucked beneath his legs and his elbows propped against his knees, the Soldier fiddled with the mask he had removed long ago as he considered that night's events.

For decades he had been kept on ice, only being allowed outside when Hydra had a mission they deemed appropriate for his particular skill set – which had not been far too often. When they had pulled him out for this mission, it was different. He had been awake and active for nearly three years, all in preparation for his confrontation with the blond-haired-blue-eyed man who sported a white star on his chest. It was a surreal feeling to be awake for so long – especially considering he knew exactly where he would go when his mission was completed.

In those three years, the Winter Soldier experienced a lot of things. Victory, failure, confidence, doubt… One person in particular had been there for almost all of it, and was more often than not the cause of it.

Veronika Rozalina Lushkov.

Even thinking her name made the Soldier clench his fists with an emotion that was not quite anger, not quite annoyance. For just over two years – appearing in his life just months after he had been brought back – she had haunted him, never far behind as she tracked him. He could only make guesses as to why she had taken an interest in him, though he was quite sure it had something to do with knowing him from the Red Room.

He had used his faint memories of her to taunt her in past fights, but in all honesty he barely remembered the vast majority of his life, let alone specifics of people he had met for only a brief time fifty years ago. But he did remember her.

He remembered her face. He remembered facing off against her in an underground fighting ring. He remembered hurting her. He remembered that she always stood back up, no matter how quickly he knocked her down again. He remembered that she had been afraid of him. He remembered that she had stared him down regardless of her fear, refusing to show him any weakness.

And as he remembered her, the Winter Soldier realized that the barest hint of a smile had found its way onto his lips.

He wasn't sure how or when it had happened, but Veronika had wormed her way into his head and latched on, refusing to leave his thoughts for very long. She infuriated him more than any other person he had encountered ever before, more than he had even thought possible, and in more ways than one. He couldn't help but wonder if the reason he resented her so deeply was for the simple fact that she reminded him so much of himself, with only one essential difference.

She was free.

Quickly schooling his features back into one of neutrality, even if nobody was around to see him, the Soldier stood on the roof and strapped the mask back over his face. Veronika could taunt him from the back of his mind all she wanted. He would simply ignore her. Lock her teasing smirk and glinting eyes away in a tiny box to be left untouched until she inevitably found her way back to the forefront of his thoughts.

Setting personal vendettas aside, he turned on his heel to make his way back to the facility, ready to accept whatever torture they decided to throw at him tonight.

* * *

The only sound in the empty alleyway was the occasional car on the nearby streets, tires scraping across the gravel roads unaware of Steve and Veronika as they stared each other down. The silent atmosphere between the two was tense to say the very least, and it was increasingly clear to the both of them that neither had intended on being the one to break that silence. While Steve fidgeted uncomfortably, Veronika focused on simply remaining upright after her encounter with the Winter Soldier. She had known she would have to face Steve eventually, but she certainly hadn't planned on it being so soon.

Steve tensed reflexively when Veronika moved, prepared to chase her again if she tried to run. When she only went to lean against the brick wall behind herself while chuckling quietly, he forced himself to loosen up. "Calm down," she said with a hint of teasing in her tone. "I'm not going to run."

"You can't blame me for assuming," Steve said in a more serious tone, crossing his arms over his chest. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Though her smile remained firmly glued to her lips, Veronika felt a pang in her chest at her words that only had her leaning more heavily against the building at her back. "No, it wouldn't," she answered simply. "And I don't blame you – for anything. You've been nothing but kind to me since we met, which is exactly why I'm here now. To help you."

"Then why did you run?"

"Because I anticipated a much more aggressive response," she admitted. "In case you've forgotten, the last time I showed up in your home unannounced you and your little Avenger friends attacked me. I wasn't very keen on the idea of a rematch."

Steve didn't want to admit that her reasoning made sense, but at the memory of him, Clint and Thor jumping on her mere minutes after she had exited the elevator in Stark Tower he couldn't argue. Still, he wasn't about to let her know that. Even if she claimed she was here to help, he was suspicious of her timing. "How did you know I was going to be attacked tonight?"

"I know a lot more than you think. Especially about who exactly wants your head on a silver platter." Veronika noted the way Steve winced at her harsh words, but made no effort to contain herself. If she wanted him to do as she instructed, she was going to have to be blunt. "And as much as I'd love to discuss such sensitive information in a very public back alley, it might be better for the both of us to remove ourselves to a safe place. Unless, of course, you were looking forward to another fight to the death tonight."

Angling himself towards the exit of the alleyway, Steve puffed out his chest and turned on the authoritative tone in his voice he usually reserved for giving pre-battle speeches. Though Veronika's appearance had brought forth a million questions, one in particular stuck out to him. "We're not going anywhere until you tell me why you left two years ago."

To Steve's great annoyance, Veronika had the audacity to _laugh_ at his question. When he remained firmly planted in his position, however, her expression fell into a concerned frown. "You're serious? I tell you that your life is in danger and you want to know why I left? Is the answer to that question really important right now?"

Steve's only response was a curt nod, causing Veronika to shake her head in disbelief. "You _are_ serious. Unbelievable. How about this, Rogers – you either come with me now, or deal with this by yourself while I take a much deserved vacation. Final offer."

That was apparently not the response Steve wanted, judging by the fact that in the next moment he had pinned Veronika to the wall with his fingers curled tightly around her wrists, holding them on either side of her head. She resisted the urge to suck in a pained breath through her teeth at the contact, instead chuckling darkly as her frown twisted into a smirk. "Well, you've certainly grown more feisty since the last time I saw you."

"How can you expect me to go anywhere with you if I can't trust you?" Steve insisted, ignoring her quip. "The last time we worked together, you ran for the hills the second the opportunity presented itself. Give me one good reason to believe you won't do the exact same thing this time."

Another moment of silence passed between the two as Veronika simply observed the man in front of her. Her unfaltering gaze on him was unnerving, but he forced himself to remain steady as her eyes raked over his face. The last time she had seen Steve, she had taken him as the pushover of the small group. Always willing to help, ready to take on whoever he needed to if it meant pleasing those closest to him. She didn't believe that to be true now, if it ever had been.

"You recall my dearly departed father, don't you?" Ignoring the sarcasm thickly laced in her words, Steve nodded to show that he did indeed remember Ivan. How could he ever forget? "Then I assume you also recall his final words?"

Steve had to take a second to think about that. He remembered the man himself, and he remembered his limp form slumped on the floor after he had choked on his own blood. As for his exact words however… "He said that he wasn't the real threat," Steve recanted. "That we had wasted our time."

"Зима придет," Veronika answered for him, her voice drifting to a quiet whisper. "Winter will come. And I can assure you that he didn't mean the snow."

Steve's eyebrows tugged together as he examined Veronika's features. The pursing of her lips, the tightness in her eyes, the clench of her jaw… "You're afraid."

Veronika acted as if he hadn't made the observation, but that didn't mean Steve didn't know he was correct – that much was clear by the shift in her wrists that he still held as her fingers twitched. If whoever was after him now was enough to inspire this kind of fear in a woman like Veronika… Steve wasn't sure he wanted to meet him again.

"You have no idea who you're up against," Veronika said. "The world's leading assassin – better than even I could ever hope to be. An unparalleled marksman, an expert in hand-to-hand combat, and all without the burden of having a soul to care just how badly he breaks you. They call him the Winter Soldier. I prefer World's Biggest Asshole, but that's just a personal preference."

"The Winter Soldier," Steve repeated, glossing over her last sentence. "He's the one Ivan was warning you about?" Veronika nodded, helping to further the gears turning in Steve's head. "And the reason you left?" Another nod. "But why? Why leave in the middle of the night, with no warning and no goodbyes? That's the part I don't understand."

Again, Veronika took a moment to consider her answer before speaking. When she did, it was no less confusing than any other answer she usually offered. "I have a lot of experience dealing with the Winter Soldier – none of it very pleasant. He's not the kind of threat that you can outrun or hide from. The only way to get rid of him is to _get rid of him_. Which is a lot harder than it sounds. I've spent the better part of two years trying, and just look at all the good it's done me."

Finally, it clicked for Steve – the reason she had abandoned the team, abandoned the one person who could ever understand her or have any hope of helping her. "You've been chasing him all this time?"

"Well, I certainly didn't turn down the offer to stick around on a whim," she bit sarcastically. "Like I said, killing a ghost is just about as impossible as finding one."

 _Be careful_ \- the second part to her short note left to Natasha on the night she left. With the story behind the words, they finally seemed to make sense. In her own small way, Veronika had been warning them. She knew what dangers lay ahead, and she had wanted them to stay vigilant. It almost made sense, with just one question remaining in Steve's mind. "But why go out on your own? Even if you didn't trust the rest of us to help you, why abandon Natasha?"

Though she'd had an inkling this was what the entire conversation had been leading up to, Veronika had hoped that she had been offering vague enough answers that would keep Steve too occupied to focus on the specifics. Apparently, her plan had failed. She knew that he wasn't one to simply leave questions unanswered – as tonight had proved – but couldn't help the urge to at least give it a shot. "I didn't come here to discuss my relationship with Natalia, I came to offer you my help. But seeing as you refuse to even release me – "

Before she even had the chance to finish her statement, Steve's grip on her arms had dropped. He took a large step back, giving her room to breathe freely once again, but kept his gaze locked on her. Once free, Veronika tucked her arms across her stomach and leaned heavily against the bricks with a sigh. All she really wanted was for the night to be over so she could find a bed to crawl into and sleep for the next three weeks. She was emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted.

"Why?"

Veronika groaned with irritation as Steve repeated his question, lifting her head from the wall to meet his eyes. "If I had informed Natalia of my intentions, how do you think she would have reacted? Either she would have tried to talk me out of it, or she would have insisted on coming with me. As the first option would have been impossible to achieve, I would have ended up with a tag-along for my little rescue mission. A tag-along that was much better off right where she was, with people who cared for and could protect her. Since neither of those outcomes was optimal, I created a third. I left. And if you believe for even one second that I was unaware of the pain I left in my wake, then you're nowhere near as intelligent as I presumed. I may be heartless, but I'm not stupid."

Steve found himself once again stunned into silence at the end of Veronika's longwinded explanation for her disappearance. He could sympathize with the desire to protect those you cared for, even if Veronika never admitted to caring for anyone or anything – at least not to his knowledge. It was clear to see that she had suffered a great deal in order to keep Natasha safe. And if his short encounter with the Winer Soldier tonight was anything to go by, he could only imagine the "unpleasant experiences" she claimed to have with him. It spoke volumes about her character.

"I don't think you're heartless," he told her softly after finding his voice. "If you were, you'd be on the other side of the world, protecting yourself first. You wouldn't be here, trying to convince me to run… I think you're confused. I think you're in pain. But I don't think you're heartless."

It was Veronika's turn to be surprised by Steve's words, though it was far less obvious to the super soldier as instead of allowing herself to ponder his words, she worked an easy grin onto her lips before shrugging her numbed shoulders. "You're entitled to your opinion, I suppose. I didn't come for a pep talk, however. I came to bring you to safety. I have a safe house in Virginia we can use for a few days until I can work out – "

"I'm not leaving."

A frustrated sigh escaped Veronika's lips as she gripped her fingers in her shirt, closing her eyes for a moment to collect her cool. "No, of course you're not. I'd be an idiot to believe otherwise, Captain Stubborn."

"I can't leave yet," Steve tried to explain. He wasn't quite sure exactly why he felt the need to explain his decisions to Veronika, but he did. Perhaps it was because she was putting her life on the line for him, or perhaps it was because she seemed so lost that he wanted to help her find herself again. Either way, he explained. "If what you've said about the Winter Soldier is true, then I get the feeling that we can't just run away and expect everything here to be okay. There are things I have to do, people I have to protect. We'll deal with the Winter Soldier – right here."

Veronika didn't like the idea, not one bit. This was not what she had signed up for when she came to Washington, D.C. "I understand that you're concerned, but you should understand that I have infinitely more experience in dealing with this asshole than you."

"This isn't just about him. There's something funky going down at SHIELD, and I can't just pack up and leave knowing that they need me here. That _Natasha_ needs me here," he reiterated, hoping that the mention of her sister would strike a chord with Veronika. Going by the way she dropped her head, he thought that it might just have worked, too.

"Okay."

Just as an appreciative smile started to spread across Steve's lips, his words of thanks died on his tongue when he watched her push away from the wall and head towards the exit to the alley. "Veronika – "

Faster than he would have thought possible judging by how much pain she seemed to be in Veronika had whipped back to face him, her mask of cool indifference had been replaced by an intense anger he had yet to see from the woman that matched her icy tone of voice. "When the Winter Soldier has hand in your chest, fingers wrapped around your heart, forcing you to choke on your own blood, don't say I didn't try to save you."

And with that, she was gone.

Steve let her go, not quite sure what the appropriate reaction to their conversation would be. Should he be angry that she had once again turned her back on those that needed her? Should he be glad she had shown up at all, risking her life if only for tonight simply to warn him? Should he feel guilty that he had been unable to convince her that she was needed here – that she was _wanted_ here?

All he really knew was that Fury and Kate were still in his apartment, and that soon the SHIELD agents that Kate had called in would be arriving if they hadn't already. Tonight had certainly taken a turn from his outing to the Smithsonian, that was for sure. Grabbing onto the railing of the fire escape that would lead him back to his apartment, Steve decided that any thoughts of Veronika could be dealt with after he figured out how exactly SHIELD had been compromised, and if it had anything to do with this mysterious Winter Soldier that she seemed so absolutely terrified of.

* * *

 **So, a little bit of insight into the Winter Soldier's perspective along with the confrontation Veronika has been dreading for two years. What did you guys think of Bucky's POV, along with the Steve/Veronika interactions? Though I try to capture the characters as I perceive them, it's always helpful to know if you think they could be written differently.**

 **And, as always, I will see you in the next chapter. :)**

* * *

 **Chapter 6 Preview**

In a rare show of emotion, Veronika slammed her hand against the wheel of her stolen car once, twice, three times, each slap stinging her already injured palm. These people would be the death of her – of that she was positive – and yet she felt inexplicably guilty for abandoning them. Not for the first time, Veronika found herself yearning for the old days when she had felt nothing for those around herself.


	6. No More

**больше не надо**

 _No More_

* * *

It took a few minutes for Steve to reach his apartment, and when he did the sight before him immediately had him back on edge for the third time that night. Kate – _is that even her real name?_ – standing with her back to him in the middle of his living room, her hands covered in blood and a defeated sag to her shoulders. Being sure to keep her in his line of sight, Steve glanced around the partition next to his kitchen only to find that Fury was no longer crouched behind it.

When he returned his eyes to the blonde, he saw that she was now looking at him over her shoulder. "The ambulance took Director Fury to the hospital," she explained as her hands produced a phone from her pocket, typing as she spoke. "They couldn't wait for you due to the severity of the wounds."

"But he – " _didn't get hit_ , Steve wanted to say, but stopped when Kate shot him a look before turning the screen for him to read.

 _PLAY ALONG – WILL EXPLAIN LATER_

He wasn't sure he could trust a woman who he had recently discovered had been lying to him since the day they met, but if Fury trusted her then he could at least give her the courtesy of listening to what she had to say.

"The bullet went into his chest, but didn't go all the way through," she continued to explain a scenario that Steve was sure was completely true, judging by the tears she was trying so hard to conceal sparkling in her eyes. "I tried to stop the bleeding, but… I need to return to headquarters to give my report. You should go to the hospital to get checked out."

Steve knew that he was physically uninjured, but if Kate thought he should go to the hospital… "I will."

"They'll bring you to the Triskelion after getting the go-ahead form the doctors." She began to type again, glancing up at Steve every few seconds as she did so. "One of Fury's old friends will be there. He'll probably want to ask you a few questions. I know you're not very trusting of people you've never met, but it would be best for everyone if you were completely honest with him."

 _SAY NOTHING TO ANYONE_

"I can do that," Steve agreed with a nod, waving towards her phone to indicate which of her statements he was referring to. She returned the nod before placing her phone back in her pocket.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Captain Rogers."

Steve watched silently as Kate wiped the blood from her hands onto her pant legs as she brushed past him, leaving his door open as she turned down the hall. He listened to her footsteps on the stairs, and waited until the door to the apartment complex closed on the floor beneath him before releasing the breath he had been holding for what seemed like hours now.

For whatever reason, Fury had apparently thought it best for people to believe that the attack on him had been successful – even going so far as to _actually_ injure himself to sell the story. It would explain the blood on Kate's hands, and the dark puddle on the floor next to his carpet. That on top of him being told that SHIELD was compromised, all paired with Veronika's sudden reappearance and the new arrival of a metal-armed assassin?

Tonight had been a very rough night for Steve Rogers.

* * *

Even with the lifestyle Veronika had grown accustomed to, she considered the night to be quite draining. It had started with a relatively simple mission – warn Steve – yet had ended with even more blood and bruises than she would have anticipated. And while she wished that everything that could possibly go wrong doing just that surprised her, it didn't in the slightest.

That wasn't to say the night's events left her completely unaffected.

After abandoning Steve in the darkened corridor on the outskirts of the inner city, Veronika had pushed her way through the drunken Saturday night crowds with a scowl so unnatural on her soft features that none of them dared look twice, headed back to her stolen vehicle. It wasn't her preferred method of getting people to ignore her, but it would simply have to do in the moment.

Once she had safely found her way back to the car, she quickly climbed in and sped away from Steve's apartment, not willing to chance another encounter with him. The streets were empty apart from a few taxis here and there, allowing her perfect opportunity to weave between the cars. Ignoring the angry honking that followed her through the city, she drove until the bright lights of the city faded into the background.

Veronika hadn't paid much mind to where she was driving to, more focused on where she was driving away from. In a similar fashion, the lush green forest that surrounded her went unnoticed as she dropped her head against the back of her seat with an indignant huff.

For all her careful planning – for all her sacrifices and efforts – tonight had still been a failure of nearly every aspect. The only silver lining she could pick out of the innumerable clouds was the fact that fresh air still filled her lungs, even if each breath was tight against her chest. Glancing down at her elbows with her fingers still wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, Veronika observed the splotches of skin that had the barest hints of bruises forming.

The fact that the Winter Soldier of all people had held her dangling off the ledge of a building and had made the split second decision to spare her life rather than end it left Veronika reeling. She was positive that if she'd been so fortunate to have him trapped in the same situation, she wouldn't have hesitated. Her smug, victorious grin would have been the last thing his eyes saw before he was sent plummeting to the earth below.

She had seen nothing in his cold, emotionless eyes as he held her life in his hands. There had been no guilt, no remorse, no forgiveness. Whatever had compelled him to save her was a mystery to Veronika. One she would use to her advantage at some point, she was quite sure.

Regardless of his poor decision-making, Veronika found the Winter Soldier to be no less dangerous. Which brought her thoughts back to the reason she was even in Washington D.C. in the first place.

The look of pure determination set into Steve's features as he refused to follow her had ignited an anger in Veronika that she hadn't felt since the day Tony had dared to lay a hand on her back in Stark Tower. When he had latched onto her arm, she hadn't hesitated to flip Tony onto the floor and scare the living daylights out of him. But with Steve, when he had pushed her so close to her limits… She had walked away. She had been so enraged, so absolutely _infuriated_ , and she had _walked away._

And that only served to piss her off even further.

In a rare show of emotion, Veronika slammed her hand against the wheel of her stolen car once, twice, three times, each slap stinging her already injured palm. These people would be the death of her – of that she was positive – and yet she felt inexplicably guilty for abandoning them. Not for the first time, Veronika found herself yearning for the old days when she had felt nothing for those around herself.

Growing up in the Red Room had taught Veronika an expanse of life lessons she had never forgotten, however the one that had been repeated every minute of every hour of every day – absolutely driven into her subconscious mind leaving her with little choice but to obey it – was that feeling was a weakness. That emotions were weapons. That anger, and fear, and sadness were only to be displayed when playing a character, never truly felt.

But when Steve turned down her offer of protection, when he insisted on staying to help complete strangers over protecting himself? Veronika felt anger, and she felt fear, and she felt sadness. She was angry that he thought he didn't need her. She feared what would happen to him – and ultimately to her Lia – in the event that the Winter Soldier got his hands on them. She felt sadness at the thought of losing this fight.

Despite her wishes to the contrary, Veronika felt quite strongly. She felt like a newborn with how poorly she had been handling the situation – running away and throwing a tantrum.

What had happened to the days when she had been stronger than steel, quicker than a whip and cleverer than a fox? What had happened to the times when she could step away from a situation to view it objectively, to give an unbiased opinion if simply for the fact that she truly didn't care about the outcome?

In a revelation similar to his own mere hours ago, the realization of who exactly had turned her into a sniveling little girl hit Veronika full force.

But she would not let him win.

"Enough of this," Veronika growled quietly to herself, pushing the car door open before marching out into the darkness. With fists clenched and heart hardened, Veronika walked until she could no longer hear the beeping of the car alerting her that she had left the door open and reached the shore of a river she didn't know the name of.

She needed to think, to reevaluate. She couldn't do that strapped into an uncomfortable cloth seat. No, she had to pace, to walk, to stretch out her tired muscles and breathe in the scent of the trees around her. Pausing in front of the water's edge, her cold eyes fell on the city across the river.

Veronika was tired – physically, mentally and emotionally drained. From the moment Ivan had breathed his final torment all the way up until this very moment, she had not for one second been afforded the luxury of peace. From chasing to running, from laughing to crying, from victory to defeat, she had experienced a lifetime in two short years. If she were a lesser woman, there was no doubt in her mind that tonight would be her breaking point.

Veronika refused to be that woman.

Turning her gaze to her reflection in the water, Veronika met her own eyes as she knelt closer and set determination flooding through herself. "No more of this," she whispered to herself, never breaking eye contact with her own image.

"No more doubt. No more regrets. No more remorse. No more guilt. You are faster than them, you are smarter than them, and you are stronger than them. You are a Black Widow. You are _the_ Black Widow. You are marble. You cannot be broken, and you cannot be beaten. Not by _him_ , not by Hydra, not be Steve, not even by yourself. You are going to track the Winter Soldier down. You are going to rip his head from his shoulders, and you will not feel a thing. No more distractions. No more Steve… No more Natalia. Only the mission."

With the promise to herself lingering in the air, Veronika stood and turned from the shoreline, strutting with newfound confidence back to her deftly acquired car. As the words had left her mouth, Veronika could have sworn she physically felt the part of her brain that sent unwanted emotions coursing through her system shutting down – just like she wanted. It was a nifty trick she had picked up as a girl, and one she was grateful for now.

Veronika slid easily back into the driver's seat, pulling the door closed and starting the engine up once again. While the car spluttered back to life her eyes turned to the console separating her seat from the passenger side. She switched the overhead light on with the click of a button as she pulled the lid open, revealing its contents.

A light tan file folder marked ASSET, with one particular photo sticking out from between the edges of the papers. Taking the old faded picture between her thumb and forefinger, Veronika admired the handsome man it displayed for a moment before slipping it inside her inner jacket pocket with a smirk, the gears in her head turning viciously as she plotted.

..

* * *

 **Yay, Veronika plotting! Even if the feelings monster started to plant seeds of doubt in her mind, she's still got plenty of badass to go around.**

 **No Winter Soldier this chapter, unfortunately. Don't worry, however, there is plenty more of him to come.**

 **Let me know what you think of Veronika's mindset, Steve's mindset, Fury's plan, Sharon's involvement… Anything!**

 **ALSO – HUGE, HUGE,** _ **HUGE**_ **thanks to my most lovely, adoring supporter – LucyNH. You are the absolute light of my life darling, so a quick shoutout to you! You always leave such loving reviews and let me know how much you're enjoying the story, and it is greatly appreciated. You have all my love and thanks! :D**

 **As always, see you all in the next one.**

* * *

 **Chapter 7 Preview**

"What are you hiding, Rogers?"


	7. Steps To Success

**шагов к успеху**

 _Steps To Success_

* * *

Step One: Camouflage.

The clothing Veronika had rushed to D.C. in provided little in the way of blending in, whether it be in a crowd or in the shadows. This issue was quickly and easily solved, however, by the simply procuring of a wallet from a random passerby on the street and a short trip to the nearest clothing outlet. Dressed much more suitably in tightly-fit, black clothes that felt much more at home against her skin, Veronika dropped a wad of cash that didn't belong to her by the register with a wink towards the wide-eyed and open-mouthed boy at the register. "Keep the change."

Step Two: Location.

Flicking the light switch upwards, Veronika took a moment to observe the hotel room. It was relatively modest, but compared to her previous shelter it was practically a castle. She made sure to deadbolt the door behind herself before removing her few belongings from her person, spreading them out over the expanse of the queen-sized bed. A stolen pocket knife. Seventy-three dollars. Papers coded in Russian. A sepia-toned photograph.

Veronika tucked the cash and folder into hidden corners of the room before returning the rest of her treasure to various hiding places in her clothing, unwilling to face anything the outside world might offer without them.

Step Three: Weapons.

Veronika slid the magazine into her newly acquired pistol, twisting and turning the gun slowly in her hands to examine the metal. It appeared sturdy enough. After all, Hydra used only the best weapons. Smirking at the lifeless agent by her feet, Veronika slid the gun into the waistband of her pants before moving to the next room. She would have to move quickly if the next part of her plan was to work.

Step Four: Information.

"How – "

"Did I find you?" Veronika finished for the man cowering beneath her, clicking her tongue with disapproval. "Given its history, you'd think Hydra would be better at keeping sensitive information out of the hands of those capable of hurting them. And yet, here we are."

The agent's eyes skimmed over the room that contained three corpses – two that this woman above him had killed and one that had the telltale foam of cyanide dripping from his mouth as his dead eyes stared unblinkingly at the ceiling. The only reason he hadn't followed in his comrade's footsteps was because of the devil pinning him to the floor, keeping him down with one hand while holding his plastic tooth in the other with a victorious smirk.

"I know you'd rather bite into this little pill than have me hand deliver you back to your superiors," Veronika taunted knowingly. "Suicide is somehow braver than discipline to you lot… So I propose a trade. Information for death. Deal?"

Although the offer did seem tempting to the restrained agent, he was no amateur to the ways of torture like other men and women Veronika had managed to get her hands on over the years. "I won't tell you a thing," he spat in her face, a smug grin taking over his features despite his current predicament when she flinched. "Cut off one head – "

His words ended in an involuntary groan when the back of Veronika's hand knocked his head further back into the hardwood. "That wasn't very nice of you," she said in an eerily chipper tone of voice, though it wavered with the anger his action had sparked. "If you aren't going to be nice to me, then why should I be nice to you?"

Standing up and dragging her captive along with her, Veronika trudged across the room closer to the man who had killed himself with no regrets just moments ago. She threw the last living agent she had down next to the body before pinning him there with the heel of her boot digging into the small of his back, leaving him no choice but to arch towards her. Latching onto his hair, Veronika began to pull him upwards. Immediately he screeched in agony at the strain it put on his spine.

"For every second you refuse to give me the answers I came here for, I'm going to snap another vertebra. One," she began to count with a harsh tug that caused his top vertebra to pop out of place, sending a warm tingle of agony shooting out to every nerve center in his back. "Two." He let out a scream as the second joined the first, pinching his spinal cord in the process. Veronika took the time then to turn his head so that his eyes met those of his partner before placing his cyanide pill on the floor inches from his nose.

"I have all night to do this and another thirty-one vertebrae to break. Unless you'd like me to leave you here completely paralyzed staring at your only escape with no way to reach it until you eventually starve to death, you might reconsider giving me what I want."

Step Five: Intercept.

Sam watched as Agent Sitwell stepped out of the restaurant with Senator Stern at his side, another three men dressed in suits trailing behind them. Sipping the iced tea he had ordered while waiting on his target, Sam eyed the burner phone programmed with Alexander Pierce's number sitting on the table. The plan was simple enough. Wait for the Senator to walk away, call Sitwell, convince him there was a sniper across the street and guide him to the car Steve and Natasha were waiting in.

When he looked back up to see Sitwell waving goodbye to Stern as he walked down the steps leading away from the courtyard, Sam smiled to himself and dialed the first of only two numbers programmed into the phone. He watched patiently, counting the rings as Sitwell waved the other agents away and pressed his phone to his ear.

" _Yes, sir?"_

"Agent Sitwell," he greeted in a cheery tone, tapping his fingers against his glass as he waited for the agent to notice him. "How was lunch? I hear the crab cakes – "

Sam's words slowly trailed off into confusion as a woman he didn't recognize appeared seemingly out of nowhere, blocking his view of Sitwell with her back to him. He heard brushing against the microphone as she snatched the phone from Sitwell's hands.

" _You won't be needing this where we're going."_

No other explanation was offered before the call was ended, the woman lacing her arm through Sitwell's with a bright smile that would have knocked Sam off his feet any other day. Large black sunglasses framed the top half of her face, keeping her identity hidden as she whispered into Sitwell's ear. Whatever she said made the man's back go rigid before he offered a curt nod, at which she began to lead him in the opposite direction of where Sam needed him to go.

"Oh no," Sam muttered to himself before calling the second number in the burner. Dropping a handful of bills on the table he pushed out of his seat and hurried to follow after his target as quickly as he could without drawing too much attention to himself. There was only one ring before his call was answered.

" _Please tell me nothing went wrong."_

"It seems we aren't the only ones who want Sitwell," Sam answered Natasha while weaving his way through the heavy D.C. crowds. "There was a woman. She came out of nowhere and said something that made him follow her. I'm in pursuit now."

The conversation went quiet on Sam's end as Natasha started the car up, running through a list of possibilities in her head. Steve sat in the passenger seat with an odd look on his face that made Natasha do a double take when she glanced in his direction. "Steve?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Steve shook his head with a sigh of disbelief before taking the phone from her hands to speak to Sam. "Can you describe her?"

" _Dark hair, pale skin. I didn't get a very good look at her face behind the sunglasses, but even from a glance she looked like the kind of person you don't want to piss off."_

Natasha cast another look in Steve's direction when she heard him groan, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "What?" He didn't reply, instead running a hand over his face and back through his hair. "Come on, cough it up."

Steve was very careful to avoid Natasha's gaze when he answered, staring intently at the phone in his hands. "Let me just start by saying that I know I should have told you earlier, but there didn't really seem to be a right time to bring it up, especially not with everything – "

"What are you hiding, Rogers?"

"Veronika's back."

Step Six: Success…?

Veronika was extremely aware of the fact that she was being tailed as she shoved Sitwell into the passenger seat of her car and sped away from the curb she had parked at, sparing one last parting glance at the mysterious man who had been following her since she first left the restaurant. She had no idea who he was or what he wanted with Sitwell, but she honestly didn't care, as long as she was the one who got to him first.

"You can't just kidnap a SHIELD agent and expect to get away with it," Sitwell whined form the passenger seat, starting up with his complaints that he had been rambling off since she first latched onto his arm. "I don't care who you think you are or how good you think you are, the second my director hears about this – "

The audible _click_ of her pistol loading a bullet into the chamber with his name on it finally shut Sitwell's mouth as Veronika pressed it to his temple, returning her eyes to the road. "I don't mean to be rude, but I _really_ need you to shut your mouth. I get these really nasty headaches if people don't know when to shut up, and when I get headaches I get angry. When I get angry, I get violent. So unless you'd like to see a less pleasant side of me, I suggest you only speak when spoken to. Understood?"

He didn't answer verbally, instead opting to nod his head when she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "I do love a quick learner," she praised with a smile that would have looked genuine to him under any other circumstances. "Tell me everything you know about the Winter Soldier."

"Are you _insane_? I'm not telling you – "

His words ended in a strangled cry as Veronika shifted the barrel of the gun to his thigh before pulling the trigger, creating a bullet-shaped hole that he cradled with both hands while she simple moved the pistol back to his temple.

"Having to repeat myself also gives me headaches."

"They call him the first of Hydra," Sitwell began to explain in a rush of faltering breaths, applying as much pressure as he could to his leg while gasping for air. "They – _shit_ – they only send him out for top level missions. A handful of world leaders, Howard Stark, Nick Fury."

"Captain America," she supplied with a nod of her head. "I've gathered that much. Does he have any weaknesses? Trick knee, sprained finger, only nine toes, _anything_?"

Sitwell scoffed at her question only to be reminded of the gun against his gun when she dug it deeper into his skin in warning. "No! No, of course not. Anything that's ever gone wrong Hydra has either fixed or replaced. I mean, have you seen the guy's _arm_?"

Veronika swore to herself beneath her breath, both at Sitwell's answer and because as she exited right off the highway she noticed that the same car that had been behind her since mere moments after leaving the restaurant had turned to follow her. "I'm going to move my hand back to the wheel now," she warned Sitwell with a warning look in his direction. "If you so much as twitch, I will blow your brains out."

Without waiting for a confirmation that he had heard her, Veronika gripped the steering wheel in both hands and took the next available turn. The tires squealed with the effort of her sharp turn, and the sound was echoed behind her as the dark blue Cruze behind her followed the same path.

"Keep talking," she instructed Sitwell while her eyes scanned for the best route available for losing a tail. "No weaknesses. What about the metal arm? When I stabbed it, it looked like – "

"Wait, hold on. That was _you_?" Sitwell asked incredulously, throwing his hands up innocently when she shot him a glare for speaking out of turn. "Sorry, it's just that it took the mechanics two days to repair that. He claimed that it was his last target."

Veronika decided against punishing Sitwell for that outburst seeing as it was valuable information. Still she warned, "Don't interrupt, it's rude. When I stabbed it, it looked like it went limp for a few seconds."

"It isn't made completely out of – " Sitwell started to explain before his side was slammed against the passenger door as Veronika made a sudden U-turn, banking left and attempting to circle around their tail " – out of metal. I don't know all the details, but there's a bunch of wiring inside to make it work like a normal arm. If it shorted out, you probably cut a few wires."

Perfect. If Veronika could get close enough again to disable his arm during their next fight, that would leave him at a huge disadvantage as long as she remembered to pull the blade back out next time instead of leaving him with an extra weapon.

As she considered this, she watched in the rearview mirror as the Cruze skidded sideways before turning back to follow her. The sight caused a twitch of irritation on her lips. They were headed back towards the highway now at least, meaning if she could just manage to get a few cars ahead of them she could exit before they had the chance to see where she was headed.

It seemed like a solid enough plan. Now all she had to do was execute it.

"What's his role in Project Insight?" Veronika questioned, causing Sitwell's eyes to widen in disbelief.

"Jesus, just how much do you know about us?" All it took was a warning glance for him to abandon his own question to instead respond to hers. "Nothing, really. If anything he's being replaced. He's always been used to take out Hydra's biggest threats, but now with the helicarriers we won't – "

Veronika had been too distracted by the thought of the Winter Soldier being replaced that she hadn't noticed the car following her growing ever closer until it slammed into her back bumper, causing her head to knock painfully against the steering wheel. Sitwell's chest slammed against the dash only a split second before the airbags deployed, knocking him and Veronika both back against their seats.

The car screeched to a halt while Veronika shook her now throbbing head, trying desperately to clear her vision well enough to continue driving before she was caught by whoever was so intent on interrupting her mission.

She had no such luck.

While fumbling in the floorboard for her dropped gun, the driver's door was yanked open and a tight hand gripped at Veronika's jacket to drag her easily out of the car in her weakened state. She vaguely caught sight of the same happening to Sitwell, catching a glimpse of the man who had been spying on them at the restaurant.

Her attention was quickly returned to her own captor, however, when she was tugged to her feet and forced to meet them face-to-face with a firm pair of hands on her shoulders. Her clouded eyes offered little in the way of making out the finer details of her attacker's face, but this was one she was certain she would recognize even if she was blind.

* * *

 **Who dragged Nika out of her car? Will she use her newly acquired knowledge of the Winter Soldier during their next meeting? Let me know your opinions of the chapter and guesses for the next as a review!**

 **And as always... can you guess it? ... See you in the next one!**

* * *

 **Chapter 8 Preview**

Veronika made sure to be as stealthy as possible as she twisted her restrained wrists back and forth, slowly but surely loosening the ties that bound her.


	8. The Turning Point

**поворотный момент**

 _The Turning Point_

* * *

In hindsight, Veronika probably should have anticipated Natasha's reaction to seeing her again – especially considering the circumstances they found themselves in now. That thought did nothing to soothe the ache in her jaw, however, as she pushed herself up and off of the concrete road. She thought she might have heard Sitwell chuckling at her misfortune, but he went largely ignored as she stood once again in front of her Natalia, brushing her fingers over her bleeding bottom lip. "I suppose I deserved that."

Natasha remained silent while shoving Veronika's front against her crashed car, tugging her hands behind her back. Veronika might have rolled her eyes at the theatrics if it was anyone else, but if her Natalia was refusing to even speak to her, then she knew she had fucked up worse than she had initially thought. "Lia – "

" _Don't_."

Veronika didn't remember a simple tone of voice had instilled such guilt in her, but with the remembrance of her promise to herself merely hours ago she swept the feeling to the side with a smile aimed towards Steve on the other side of the car. "Hello again, gorgeous. Decided that you needed me after all?"

"Something like that," Steve replied, fastening ties around Sitwell's wrists while Natasha did the same to Veronika.

She turned then to chuckle at Sitwell as he limped, nodding meaningfully at his injured leg. "Think you can make it to the car by yourself, Jasper darling?" His only response was to send her a glare filled with so much hatred that it might have seemed threatening if it were coming from someone she deemed to be an actual threat.

Glancing at the man she recognized from the restaurant, Veronika offered him a wink that had him looking anywhere but her before turning her eyes to her hands behind her back. They were simple rope ties that would be easy enough to escape from given the opportunity, meaning they didn't plan on holding her for long. If that were the case… "I see I'm not the only one on the run. Tell me, how long did it take for you to realize that you were being haunted by ghosts from the past, Lia?"

Her question was rewarded with another rough shove against the door of the car before he was pulled back from it. "I said, _don't_."

A dramatic sigh breezed through Veronika's lips, but she remained quiet otherwise. She knew she was being just a bit too pushy considering her current predicament, and stepping over any other lines would not end in her favor. She would wait to ask any further questions… at least until they made it to the car.

Natasha led Veronika towards the Cruze with a hand on her shoulder while Steve did the same with Sitwell. Their third party member moved to sit in the driver's side, keeping his eyes on the steering wheel as their detainees were loaded into the backseat.

Veronika waited until the doors were closed and Natasha and Steve were standing outside to lean forward in her seat and offer her brightest smile to the man. "Hello, handsome."

* * *

After closing the door behind Veronika, Natasha forced a few deep breaths through her nose. It had been impulsive of her to attack the woman on sight, but Veronika had always had an emotional effect on her that very few people had. And that stupid, smug little smirk that had been plastered to her face as she chuckled her childhood nickname, as if she had _any right_ …

Seeing the sympathetic look in Steve's eyes had Natasha straightening out her back before joining him next to the passenger's door, her mask of cool confidence easily slipping back into place. "So, who's riding backseat with Hardy Boys?"

Steve shot the aforementioned criminals a wary glance before curling his fingers around the front door. "Sorry, Nat."

"Sure you are." Natasha tugged the back door open on Sitwell's side. A simple raise of her eyebrow told him to move to the middle seat, leaving the seat behind Steve open for the redhead. As she slid onto the cloth, she caught the remnants of Veronika's conversation with Sam.

" – these ties, huh? I promise to be a very good girl."

"That's enough," Steve snapped. Though not a single person in the car missed the blush on his cheeks at the wink she offered Sam to match her words, none of them dared mention it when they heard the frustration in his tone as he addressed Veronika and Sitwell. "Neither of you are going to speak unless spoken to. You're going to sit there quietly and behave yourselves until one of us says otherwise. Understood?"

While Sitwell merely lowered his head with a defeated sigh, Veronika practically purred, "Whatever you say, Captain. I always did love a man in uniform."

If Sitwell felt Natasha stiffen at his side as Veronika ignored Steve's orders in favor of continuing her flirtatious ways, he was wise not to mention it.

When nobody responded to Veronika, she relaxed the top of her back against her seat with a disappointed frown and turned to pout at the passing road. She didn't sit idly, however. Veronika was sure to be as stealthy as possible as she twisted her restrained wrists back and forth, slowly but surely loosening the ties that bound her.

Despite all her teasing and bravado, she knew just how much time she was losing by being stuck in this car with people who would sooner trust any one of Hydra's lackeys over her. She knew she had to escape at the soonest possible opportunity. If they knew of her intentions, however, they might do more than simply wrap her wrists in thin ropes.

Thin ropes that hung limply from her wrists as the minutes passed in silence, with none the wiser except the trickster herself. Now all she had to do was find a way to make them stop the car without being too obvious.

Veronika was so deep in her plotting that she barely registered the fact that a conversation had sparked in the car until she heard Steve say, "There's no time for that now, since _somebody_ decided to interfere in our plans."

"Don't flatter yourself, Rogers," Veronika chuckled ruefully, turning her attention back to the situation at hand. "It was never my intention to interfere with whatever weak plans you came up with. You three are the brainless lot that got in _my_ way."

"Did she just call us brainless?" Sam asked in an affronted voice while Natasha scoffed. "I think she just called us brainless. Us! The people who managed to capture her in a matter of minutes. I thought you said she was going to be a problem," he said, smacking Steve's shoulder.

"She's not our focus right now," Natasha interrupted Sam's gloating before Veronika had the chance. "Steve's right. We're on a time crunch, so we're just going to have to do this here. And look, the process has already been started for us."

There wasn't an opportunity for anyone to ask what she meant by that before her hand was gripping Sitwell's thigh that Veronika had put a bullet straight through less than fifteen minutes earlier. To his credit, he only groaned in pain instead of screaming as he had at the initial injury. "Tell us what time Project Insight launches," Natasha instructed in a business-like tone.

"What is _wrong_ with you people?" Sitwell panted as he jerked forward, his body curling in on itself in an attempt to protect itself from further harm before he shoved his shoulder against Veronika's. "I already told her everything I know, just _ask her_ _for_ _God's_ _sake!_ "

Veronika rolled her eyes at his shouting. "Oh, don't be such a baby, Jasper. Remember my headaches? Natalia also has a migraine problem. If you just answer her questions, she'll stop squeezing."

"Hydra doesn't like leaks," he insisted with a shake of his head, though the words were muffled between his grunts.

"They'd kill you ten times over for what you told me," Veronika reasoned. "Why stop talking now when you've already – "

"I'm perfectly capable of interrogating on my own," Natasha interrupted, leaning forward in her seat to send the woman a pointed look. "Even if I did need help – which I don't – I certainly wouldn't ask you."

"Well, _excuse me_ for trying to be helpful."

"Please," Natasha snorted with an annoyed grin. "You don't help anyone but yourself. You've made that much _very_ clear."

"That may be what you think – " Veronika, in keeping up with the charade of her hands remaining bound, used a thrust of her shoulder to point towards Steve " – but why don't you ask your boyfriend what I did for him the other night, and tell me that I'm not helpful."

"What? I'm not her boyfriend," Steve cut in while Natasha replied, "He told me what you did – you left. Just like you always do."

A loud honk caused all sets of eyes in the car to jump to the driver, who slowly returned his grip to the edge of the wheel as the bickering came to a stop. "That's _enough_ ," Sam scolded, taking the time to meet each individual gaze in the rearview mirror before returning his eyes to the road. "It's already been established that we don't have even a second to spare if we're going to get where we're going on time. So if you two are done being childish – what time does Insight launch?"

Sitwell shook his head slowly, his eyes tightly closed as he fought to ignore the throbbing in his thigh. "Noon tomorrow."

Steve glanced at the clock on the dash, running a nervous hand through his hair. "That gives us just under sixteen hours. If we cut through this traffic we can make it to our meeting and still have time to get to the Triskelion, use Sitwell to bypass the DNA scan and access the helicarriers directly."

Sitwell leaned forward in his seat, pushing a very annoyed Veronika harder against her door in doing so. "What? Are you crazy? That is a terrible, _terrible_ idea! You – "

Whatever he had planned on saying next became permanently irrelevant when a thud against the roof was followed by a fist punching through the window and past Veronika's face, latching onto Sitwell's throat and pulling him back through the broken glass all before anyone in the car could even blink.

Veronika caught a glimpse of Natasha's eyes widening as she saw Sitwell get tossed into the middle of oncoming traffic like a cigarette butt, leaving no time for a scream to pass through his lips before he was delivered his fate by an eighteen-wheeler. She couldn't have cared less about the man with the eagle pin, however, as she saw the shimmer of that damned metal arm returning to the roof. Her survival instincts kicked into overdrive at the thought of ending up as roadkill, overpowering her need to keep her freed hands a secret.

One hand latched onto Natasha's shoulder and pulled her away from the other window just as a gunshot rang out, sunlight filtering through the hole above the seat she had just been seated in before Veronika shoved her towards the front seat. "Grab Steve," she commanded, her tone harboring none of the chest-shattering adrenaline she was experiencing.

Whatever arguments Natasha might have had about not needing Veronika's help had flown out the window with Sitwell. She wasted no time in climbing into the passenger seat and wrapping her arms protectively around Steve's neck as Veronika shook the ropes free from her wrists. Another two shots were fired – one where Steve's head had been before Natasha jerked it to the side and the other mere inches from Sam's shoulder.

When Natasha looked back to see what Veronika was doing with her newfound freedom, she had barely a second to register her movements before Veronika was leaning into the front of the car and placing her hand over Sam's on the gear shift and bringing the car to a skidding halt.

Veronika thought that this might be a new record for her as she slammed against the back of the driver's seat, glad she'd had the common sense to angle herself so that she wouldn't be sent flying through the windshield much like the Winter Soldier was launched from the roof of the car. She had little time to revel in her small victory, however, as he dug his mechanical fingers into the concrete. Five long streaks of rubble displayed his path as he landed in a low crouch.

"Listen to me very carefully," Veronika cautioned the other passengers. "No matter how big you think your balls are, do not under any circumstances – " Her words of warning were cut short by the slamming of an SUV into their back bumper, counting this as the third time Veronika had been thrown around inside of a car in far too short a time for her to be at all comfortable.

Sam tried desperately to maintain control of the car as they were forced forward by the car the size of a tank behind them. The only silver lining was that they were headed in a direct path for the man with the metal arm – _holy shit, they weren't kidding about that_ – was quickly clouded over when he flipped over the hood of the car and landed once more on the roof.

When she saw Natasha frantically searching for her fallen pistol, she silently thanked herself for having the common sense to bring more than one as her other had been lost. Snatching the pistol from the inside of her jacket and craning her back against the console between the two front seats, she pushed the barrel against the metal roof and hoped it hit an unarmored limb before pulling the trigger three times.

Of course, she had never been very lucky when it came to fighting this man.

With three bullets utterly wasted, Veronika soon found herself face-to-fist with the Soldier's metal arm as he punched easily through the aluminum roof. She barely managed to roll towards Steve and Natasha before his knuckles pounded with a hard thud against the plastic console.

He wasn't finished there. His next move was to swipe his arm to the left and grab onto the steering wheel, the joints in his arm whirring with minimal effort as he tore it from the dash as easily as he would have wet paper and quickly disposed of it through the gaping hole in the roof.

Trapped in a car going seventy miles an hour with a maniac out for blood on the roof and no way of stopping or steering the vehicle was certainly not how Veronika had visualized the day going – much less how she would meet her untimely death… _Death_. As that thought crossed her mind, she glanced at the two people in the passenger seat for half a second – though it seemed to be hours as the adrenaline in her system kicked into overdrive – and the terrified yet calculating looks on their faces.

No. This would not be how she died. This would not be the day she died.

Not unless he died first.

"Get out of the car," Veronika instructed, pulling herself fully into the front of the car and repositioning herself so that her feet were planted against the front windshield. "And try not to die doing it."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Natasha demanded, keeping one arm around Steve while the other twitched towards Veronika.

"What I've been trying to do for two years," she answered simply with a self-assured expression so recognizable to Natasha it almost seemed as if it hadn't been a lifetime since she'd seen it. "I'm going to kill the bastard."

Without another word Veronika kicked through the already cracked glass, careful to avoid the jagged edges as she climbed carefully through with one hand clinging onto the vehicle and the other to her gun. She had heard the Soldier running overhead and knew he was abandoning the car to return to the SUV currently attempting to bulldoze them, which meant she knew where to aim.

The sound of metal ripping itself apart from metal grated against Veronika's ears as the passenger door flew off the hinges, the sight of three bodies curled against a red white and blue shield just barely whirring past her peripheral vision as she set her sights on the man on the hood of the SUV. His face was once again fully masked – an issue she aimed to resolve at a later time. For now, she had to get him away from the car that she would be no match for.

While the Winter Soldier moved to dodge her bullets, she surprised him by shifting the barrel downwards and aiming for the tires of the car he rode. He briefly considered returning the roof of the Cruze to fight her then and there, but reconsidered in a split second decision and instead opted for bouncing off the hood of the armored vehicle and onto the cement edge of the overpass.

The tires were thicker than a normal car, but a few extra bullets proved effective in popping open the two front tires of the enemy vehicle, leaving Veronika with a very small window of time before it flipped over on top of her. A quick assessment of the surrounding area was enough for her to choose heading in the opposite direction of the Soldier, and instead leaping from the destroyed Chevy to the empty bed of a slowing truck.

Veronika landed in a crouch in the trunk of the truck that came to a screeching halt as to avoid the destruction in front of it, though the skidding tires quickly knocked her to side. As she lay in the back of the truck, attempting to take a few deep breaths before heading into the middle of what she could already tell was going to be one of the most difficult fights of her life, Veronika considered the steps she had taken that led her to this moment and how crucial of a turning point this would be – not only in her war against the Winter Soldier, but in her life.

With that thought in mind, she pushed herself back to her feet and turned to face the enemy.

* * *

 **Chapter 9 Preview**

She heard the pull of the trigger, the boom of the gunshot, the rip in the clothing and the break in the skin as the bullet found its target. If Veronika thought she had experienced fear before this moment, she had been sorely mistaken.

* * *

 **I'm just going to let this chapter and that preview speak for themselves.**

 **See you in the next one, my darlings.**


	9. Little Green Monster

**маленький зеленый монстр**

 _Little Green Monster_

* * *

Veronika had felt confident in her decision to approach the Winter Soldier until she saw that he was standing among his friends – four heavily armed men, to be precise. Nodding her head to herself, she rethought her plan of attack while ducking back into hiding. Her best chance at taking him out now would be to somehow separate him from the team. How she was going to do that was still up in the air, but she was quite sure she would figure it out.

Meanwhile, the rest of the ragtag group she had been with was scattered along the highway. Sam crouched behind a car nearly forty feet away from where Veronika had holed up. Natasha had been knocked off the bridge while dodging a stream of bullets, and was currently trying to land a lucky shot on the main in the mask. Steve had climbed inside an overturned bus, guiding the citizens to safety.

Outmanned and outgunned, they'd had no choice but to split up and hope for the best. To call this fight uneven would be the understatement of the century. That wouldn't deter any of them from carrying out it, however – even if it would be for very different reasons all around.

* * *

The Soldier spotted the trademark shield lying abandoned on the street next to the bus, giving away his target's hiding place. Before he had the chance to do anything about it, however, a stray bullet cracked the right lens of his goggles. He reflexively dropped into a crouch behind the highway's divider, ripping the obstruction away from his eyes. Damaged equipment would only get in the way, after all.

He wasn't supposed to allow emotions to get in the way of his mission, but the fact that the redhead had been merely an inch away from ending his life sparked something in his gut that he refused to ignore. As the Winter Soldier returned to his feet, he accepted the grenade launcher being offered to him and spoke to the men ordered to obey him.

"У меня есть ее. Найти его." _I have her. Find him._

In his anger, the Soldier had failed to realize that a certain brunette had crept close enough to eavesdrop on his commands. Commands that endangered a certain redhead that she was very keen on keeping alive. Commands that would ignite an anger in her chest and prompt her to do everything in her power to stop him.

With his orders in place, the Soldier stepped onto and over the divider before effortlessly landing on the roof of a car below, crushing the metal and shattering the glass. In only a matter of minutes everything around him had managed to crumble.

People abandoned their cars in favor of running from the men with guns, their screams echoing off the walls of the overpass. Broken glass littered the streets from overturned cars. Gunshots pierced the air, tearing easily through the thin metal of the bus laying on its side. Destruction ran rampant through the streets, and he hadn't even truly begun.

Still, all these sounds were simply background noise. All of the Soldier's attention was on the woman in front of him, weaving between cars as if this would somehow save her from him. The world all around him fell away as he narrowed his eyes at her, raising his rifle and calculating the best way to take her out from this distance.

And then he was on the ground.

In his haze, he had completely ignored the fact that Veronika had managed to disarm the four men he had left on the bridge with the help of one Sam Wilson, who now stood guard at the rails with a stolen Hydra rifle in hand. After ensuring that Sam did in fact know how to use a gun – "I was in the army, y'know." – she had followed the Soldier's actions by leaping over the side of the bridge. Instead of landing on and demolishing another car, however, she'd had a different target in mind.

"Again with the mask?" Veronika taunted from her spot on the Winter Soldier's back, the mere tone of her voice causing him to tense in frustration. "I thought we discussed this last time, lover. You don't need to hide yourself from me."

His only response was to shove his left shoulder upwards, knocking her to the side far enough that he was able to flip them over. In all of their previous fights, this had been the point when he would go straight for her throat, so it was no surprise to him when he saw her hands fly up to protect her airways.

Despite his nonchalance, he saw the smallest flicker of surprise in her eyes when he merely gripped her arm and tossed her to the side before returning to his feet and marching away. Veronika was not his mission, and unless she forced his hand he would not confront her. She was too unpredictable, too dangerous. Not to mention that he had never told Hydra of his involvement with her.

Sparing a glance to the other men dressed in black around him, he knew that he would have to act as if he had never met the woman before lest his indiscretions be found out. Pierce would be none too happy to learn that his most valuable, most reliable asset had been acting out behind his back. And if Pierce was unhappy with his performance, the Soldier knew _exactly_ what would happen to him.

Needless to say, the Winter Soldier thought it best to simply ignore Veronika – at least for today. Let the others handle her how they saw fit, he thought to himself while reloading his gun, searching for any signs of the redhead who had dared attack him. As far as Hydra was concerned, Veronika Lushkov was not his mission, and that was how it would remain until the day he was finally able to land the killing blow.

* * *

This was not how Veronika saw things.

All she had seen was yet another opportunity for the Winter Soldier to hurt her – perhaps even kill her – and he had walked away, _again_. While at first it had been more confusing than anything, it was very quickly becoming a point of annoyance for her.

Who the hell did he think he was? Tossing her around like some ragdoll, some plaything to be toyed with at his leisure. She was the _Black Widow_ for Christ's sake! The woman who had tracked him cross country for years on end, battling him more times than she could count and almost managing to kill him at least a dozen of those times. Yet there he went, leaving her laying on the ground like yesterday's news, strutting off towards a newer, shinier nemesis.

Chuckling darkly to herself, Veronika pushed herself from the ground fueled by nothing other than her thirst for blood. She was going to beat some sense into that man even if she had to die to do it, and nothing short of his head on a silver platter was going to stop her.

* * *

Natasha had just barely caught a glimpse of Veronika's dive from the bridge, but it had been enough for her to know that the Winter Soldier was going to be preoccupied long enough for her to devise a diversion tactic. Ducking behind one of at least ten empty cars, she pulled out the phone she had used to track the heat signatures at Camp Lehigh. She only had to think for a second before opening a recording app and rambling off nonsense about needing an extraction – though the shaking of her voice came completely naturally to her in that moment.

She remembered very vividly the unforgiving methods the monster chasing her now had employed during her youth, and expected no less than his all from him now. If he had only been training them then, she could only imagine the difficulty of evading his blows now when his mission was to end her life rather than increase her strength.

No matter how terrified she was, however, Natasha would fight. How could she not? If she fled now, she would be leaving the people she had come to call friends to face a madman on their own. And if she did that, how could she call herself any better than Veronika?

This was the difference between her and the woman she once called sister. Where Veronika would flee for her own wellbeing, Natasha would stand and fight for the greater good.

After finishing her recording, Natasha set it to play on a loop before leaving her phone on the ground behind the car and looping around to wait and watch her bait fall into her trap. While switching positions she had glanced towards the bridge and saw the Winter Soldier walking her way as she had intended, resting his weapon against his shoulder as casually as one might hold an umbrella on a sunny day.

She didn't want to think about what he had done to Veronika to get away from her, choosing instead to focus on her own predicament. Veronika had made it very clear that she could handle herself and would not be needing help from her or anyone else. If that was what she thought, then Natasha was happy enough to leave her to her plans – so long as they didn't interfere with her own.

Natasha waited until the Soldier rolled what she could only assume to be a grenade towards her phone to come out from hiding, uncoiling the metal wire she planned on using to choke him with as she crept up from behind him.

* * *

The Winter Soldier was quick to retrieve his weapon from the ground after flipping the bitch who had tried to strangle him onto the ground in front of him, more than ready to end his feud with her by putting a bullet right between her eyes. Before he even had the chance to fully raise his gun, however, she had produced a small metal disc that latched onto his artificial arm when she threw it his way.

Whatever the device was, it sent electrical currents through his arm that rendered it useless until he was able to rip it off and toss it to the side, glaring at the disc as it bounced off the concrete. There was little he hated more than people assuming that if they simply got rid of his left arm he would suddenly be vulnerable – especially those who weren't very good at doing so.

He watched as the redhead waved civilians away from the danger, running back and forth between cars in an attempt to divert any shots he might attempt to take at her. It wouldn't matter in the end. She was his target, and no matter how long it took the Soldier _always_ got his target.

That wasn't to say he wasn't stalled by a bullet whizzing by, an inch from his face. He had no time to even consider how nasty that shot would have been had he taken a step forward merely a second earlier as he turned to face the owner of the gun.

"Eyes on me, lover," Veronika called to the Soldier with an expression on her face that was half confidence and half rage. A smirk pulled dangerously at her lips as her eyes burned with unbridled indignation, one arm swinging by her side while the other pointed her recently acquired weapon right at him. "We have unfinished business, you and I, and I don't plan on letting you go anywhere until we settle this."

That wasn't going to do. If she continued to spout of about their exploits over the years one of his fellow agents was bound to hear something they shouldn't, which would get him into more trouble than he thought he had the energy to deal with right now. On the other hand, letting the redhead get away when he had explicit orders to take her out would also get him into trouble.

The Soldier's decision on who to fight was made for him when Veronika got close enough to fire again, this time the bullet grazing off the armor on his right arm. If he hadn't been wearing thicker padding than a pistol could break through, that bullet might have been a real problem.

"Am I not enough for you anymore?" Veronika asked when she reached his side, swinging the gun in a wide arc that she had hoped would collide with the side of his head, but instead left her forearm stuck against his own when he blocked the attack. "I'm only your top priority when tall, blond and handsome isn't around? Or are redheads more your thing? Sorry, darling, but I'm afraid she's off-limits."

The Soldier gripped Veronika's left wrist in his right hand, holding it above her head and using it as leverage to knock her against the side of the wrecked car he had blown up only moments ago. He pushed his face closer to hers until they were just barely an inch apart, wanting to make sure that she heard him even through his thick mask.

"Закрой рот, ты глупая маленькая девочка, прежде чем все испортить." _Shut your mouth, you stupid little girl, before you ruin everything._

* * *

Veronika wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh at him for thinking she cared at all about ruining whatever game the Winter Soldier was playing, or stab a rusty dagger through his eye for calling her a stupid little girl. Either way she wasn't given the chance when he jerked his knee up into her gut, leaving any words she might have said lodged in her throat as she choked on the air she struggled to breathe.

Leaving her no time to recover from the kick, the Soldier knocked her to the ground with an elbow to her temple. She felt the blood from the attack trickling down her cheek, but was too focused on blinking the blurriness out of her vision to care too much about it. Normally such a blow wouldn't leave her so reeled, but couple with the previous three car wrecks she had managed to get herself in over the last hour, Veronika was struggling to collect the willpower that would get her up off of that concrete.

Through her pain-clouded eyes she was able to make out the figure of the Winter Soldier once again leaving the job unfinished, walking away from her in favor of following Natasha with determination clear in his gait. If she couldn't find the strength to get up and follow after him, then she would simply have to do this another way.

Using the open window of the car next to her, Veronika ignored the shaking in her arms as she pulled herself to her unsteady feet. "You can do this," she muttered to herself, ignoring the fact that talking to herself was not a good sign of her current mental state. "If you can walk out of Ivan's fortress after being stabbed in the back, you can walk out of here after being hit in the head. Pull yourself together."

Her quiet encouragement to herself did little for her physical wellbeing, but as for motivation it seemed to do the job. She was no more stable on her feet, but she was able to turn in a full circle and survey the area for where Natasha and the Winter Soldier had gone. She didn't even have the time to register that she had spotted them before she heard it.

She heard the pull of the trigger, the boom of the gunshot, the rip of the clothing and the break in the skin as the bullet found its target. If Veronika thought she had experienced fear before this moment, she had been sorely mistaken. Her promise to herself to feel nothing for Natasha was broken the moment she saw her fall out of sight, clutching her bleeding shoulder after the Winter Soldier finally managed to get a clear shot on her.

Veronika had only one thought on her mind in that moment – _save her._

Ignoring her own flaring pain, Veronika pushed away from her support and ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards the car she had seen her sister drop behind. She didn't even register the fact that Steve had appeared seemingly from out of nowhere to attack the Winter Soldier, the two men beginning their own quarrel.

Skidding around the side of the car, Veronika immediately dropped to her knees at Natasha's side. Despite her internal panic, her expression revealed nothing of her racing heart or erratic breathing as her gaze trailed over Natasha' form.

"So you _do_ care."

Veronika's eyes snapped up to meet Natasha's that were filled with an unsettling mixture of pain and mirth. "Only that he was able to hit you so easily," Veronika brushed her off, replacing Natasha's hand covering the wound with her own. "If he can hurt one Black Widow, who is to say he can't hurt the other?"

Natasha remained quiet, focusing all her concentration on not succumbing to the darkness that crept at the edge of her vision. She was losing a lot of blood, and far too quickly for her tastes – and Veronika's.

"Steve should never have refused my help," she mumbled mostly to herself, though that didn't stop Natasha from listening. "Everything would be so much simpler if people simply did as I told them to."

"If everyone did what you told them to, half the world would have dug their own graves by now," Natasha argued, only half-joking.

"And the other half would be safe."

Natasha shook her head at Veronika's cynicism. Though she couldn't completely disagree, she still never liked the idea of making an example out of some simply so others would obey. "But at what cost?"

It was Veronika's turn to ignore Natasha, mimicking the action of shaking her head in disagreement before applying more pressure to the gunshot wound. "I'm going to kill him," she said once to herself before meeting Natasha's faltering gaze, using her free hand to grip her chin and keep her head steady. "I'm going to kill him."

"Don't let me stop you." Natasha slipped her bloody hands beneath Veronika's, using her head to nod around the side of the car. "I'll just be here, trying not to bleed out."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Veronika scoffed, a playful grin managing to slip onto her lips for just a moment before leaning around the side of the car. If she was going to use the last of her strength to take out the Winter Soldier once and for all, she was going to need him sufficiently distracted. She was also going to need a weapon.

As if reading her thoughts, Natasha tapped her shoulder and pressed the rifle she had stolen from one of the fallen Hydra agents into Veronika's hands. Offering her Lia an appreciative grin, she flipped the safety switch on the side that activated the gun's second feature.

Veronika's grin returned full force when she saw that Steve had been keeping him occupied, and had even managed to knock that silly mask off his face. She really was mystified why he had started hiding his face right before this mission, when he had never been afraid to show himself to the world before. Perhaps they thought the extra armor would be useful, but honestly it had only been a hassle for him and his opponents. Or perhaps –

"Bucky?"

Veronika glanced at Steve as he spoke the name almost reverently, the look on his face disbelieving yet hopeful. She'd never heard it before, but when she turned her gaze back to the Soldier she saw just the barest flicker of recognition in his eyes that told her she shouldn't forget it.

Despite the look she was more than certain she had seen, his response to the unasked question was, "Who the hell is Bucky?"

Steve wasn't given the chance to answer before the Soldier was knocked off his feet by Sam wearing a pair of metal wings that had Veronika blink twice to make sure she had actually just seen that happen. She was sure she had seen weirder things in her many years, but at the moment she couldn't think of any.

Sam – who seemed a bit out of practice with his flying skills – rolled off to the side as the Soldier crawled to his knees before climbing back to his feet. There was only the briefest moment of doubt between him and Steve before the Soldier raised his secondary gun, finger sliding easily over the trigger.

Veronika took this as her cue to use the weapon Natasha had gifted her with, launching a grenade from the bottom barrel of the rifle. Steve dropped into a duck as the orb shot over his head while Sam merely curled into a ball on the ground, shielding his head with his wings.

Flame and smoke billowed up from the area of impact. Veronika tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes and watching the spot with rapt attention. By the time the fire died down, the Winter Soldier had managed once again to disappear.

Veronika's quiet curses were drowned out by the sound of sirens and helicopter blades whirring overhead. Seeing what was about to happen, Veronika felt her chest tighten as she returned to her sister's side.

Natasha knew exactly what was about to happen before a single word left Veronika's lips. It was one of those rare moments when Veronika allowed her true emotions to show on her face, and right now they displayed remorse. "Don't you dare," Natasha whispered, hating that she had believed for even one second that Veronika could ever choose anyone above herself.

Veronika simply produced a small, square piece of paper from the inside of her jacket that had ten numbers hastily scribbled on them before tucking it neatly into Natasha's inside jacket pocket, their gazes never breaking from one another's. "Call this number the second you need me, and I swear to you that I will come."

"You expect me to believe you?" Natasha growled through gritted teeth, the pain in her shoulder increasing tenfold when she tried to hold onto Veronika's arms and keep her in place. "You expect me to believe for even one second that you would _ever_ endanger yourself for the sake of others?"

Natasha saw it on her face the second Veronika shut off her emotions, gripping her wrists and removing them from her shoulders. "I'm not going to let him get away – not again."

With that, Veronika turned and ran away from the approaching SUVs. Natasha heard the clang of Steve's shield hitting the pavement and the clinking of the cuffs being slapped on his wrists. She knew she had only a precious few seconds before they found her as well, that she had mere moments before she would be thrown mercilessly into the back of a car where she would be driven to a place nobody would find her body.

And no matter how much she hated it, she used those precious moments to move Veronika's phone number from the left side of her jacket to the right, not wanting the numbers to be obscured by the blood leaking from her shoulder.

* * *

 **We** _ **finally**_ **got to see a bit more of the Winter Soldier's perspective in this chapter – I know, long overdue – as well as some of Nat's POV, and of course plenty of Veronika. As the longest chapter yet, I hope you enjoyed the split perspectives and little differences Veronika's presence caused.**

 **Let me know your opinions, critiques, yada yada yada in the review section down below.**

 **As always, see you all in the next one, my darlings – which should prove to be** _ **most**_ **interesting.**

* * *

 **Chapter 10 Preview**

" _Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life."_

Veronika ran her hands over her mouth, tapping thoughtfully at her lips as the clip faded to black. If she couldn't squeeze any more answers out of Hydra, then she was just going to have to go further back – to the people who knew the man before he became the monster.


	10. The Man Before

**человек прежде чем**

 _The Man Before_

* * *

Alexander Pierce was not the kind of man you wanted to deliver bad news to. Depending on his mood, your reward for being the messenger might range anywhere from a quick clap on the back to a bullet planted firmly in your brain. So when the task of informing their director that the Asset was acting out was given to Agent Brock Rumlow, the rest of the men in the room suppressed a collective sigh of relief.

Rumlow directed Pierce through two sets of double-doors before returning his arms to his side and following silently behind. The director nodded his silent thanks to the agent, linking his hands together behind his back as he moved to stand in front of the Asset in question.

"Mission report."

The Asset failed to respond, his eyes remaining glued to a patch of wall beyond the men surrounding him with their fingers itching towards their triggers.

"Mission report, _now_."

When he was once again ignored, Pierce moved to crouch in front of the man on the chair, waving off those that tried to stop him from getting any closer. After slipping his glasses into the shallow pocket on the front of his suit jacket, he used the back of the same hand to knock the Asset's head to the right with a harsh smack.

He blinked out of his reverie then, his eyebrows twitching ever so slightly closer as he turned his face back to the man he knew to be his superior. It was not his place to ask questions – he knew that – but they were burning so brightly in his mind that he simply couldn't find it in himself to care. "The man on the bridge… Who was he?"

Pierce pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, smart enough to know that he was treading on dangerous territory. "You met him earlier this week on another assignment."

"I knew him."

Pierce waved his hand and a rolling stool was pushed closer until it reached his side. Positioning it in front of the Asset, he let out a quiet sigh as he took a seat. This would have to be handled carefully. The Asset had been out of cryofreeze longer than ever before, and it was clear that it was affecting his memory.

He hadn't come to discuss Steve Rogers, however. No, there had been much more troubling reports brought to his attention.

"Your work has been a gift to mankind. You've shaped the century… A lot of that has been thanks to the fact that you and I are honest with each other." Pierce paused when the Asset knit his brows further, glancing up at him with confusion written on his face. "I don't think you've been very honest. You've been keeping something from me."

The Asset watched with baited breath as Pierce snapped his fingers and Rumlow stretched his arm out, handing over a grainy black-and-white photograph. It wasn't until the director finished observing the picture and flipped it so that he could see that he understood what was happening.

"Do you know this woman?"

He wanted to deny it – all of it. Deny that he had ever met her before their encounter on the bridge. Deny that he still had those flickers of memories from so long ago of the girl she once was as opposed to the woman she had grown to be. Deny that he had failed to kill her on multiple occasions, and simply refused to on others.

He wanted to deny to Pierce and to himself that he had developed a dangerous attachment to the woman in the photo. He never wanted to admit that the reason he had allowed her to slip through his fingers more than once was because she was the one aspect of his life that hadn't been tainted by Hydra. Her life had always been in his hands, and his hands alone. Not Pierce's, or Hydra's, or SHIELD's. _His._ He didn't want to let that go.

But when he saw the traffic camera photo of his gloved hands wrapped around her wrists, shoving her against the side of a car and leaning in close enough to whisper words of warning to her, he knew that there was no denying anything anymore.

* * *

Breaking into the Smithsonian after hours proved to be much easier than Veronika had initially assumed. The security guards on duty during the early hours of nightfall were just a few old men wandering the halls – nobody she couldn't easily slip past in the shadowed parts of the hallways before carrying on her merry way.

She had heard that they were opening a Captain America exhibit a few months back, but had never had an invested interest in coming until the moment she realized he had known the Winter Soldier's true identity.

After leaving her temporary teammates to be detained by Hydra, Veronika had returned to her hotel room where she had hidden her stolen folder on the Asset. While she had been searching for the man's next target, she had skipped right over the first few pages that detailed who he was and the rigorous experimentation he had endured. Now, however, they seemed much more interesting.

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes was stamped at the top of the second page.

" _Bucky?"_

But he hadn't been called that name since he had joined Hydra in 1944. Seeing as there were no records of him before then, she would have to do the second best thing and delve into the past of the man who knew James Barnes rather than the Winter Soldier.

This was how Veronika found herself standing in front of the mural that stretched across an entire wall, a row of mannequins wearing uniforms that matched those in the painting her only company.

She hadn't even bothered to glance at the other men on the wall once she had seen his face displayed proudly beside Captain America. Her only other look at the man had been a tiny, faded photograph that could never compare to how she saw him now.

It was almost unbelievable how stark the difference between the two versions of this man were – Barnes and the Soldier. That difference did nothing but grow even more prominent as she turned from the painting, focusing her attention on the glass tribute that stood apart from the rest labeled _A Fallen Comrade_.

Her interest increased tenfold as she read the epitaph detailing his childhood as Steve's best and only real friend, how he had joined the Army after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and his time with the group named the Howling Commandos. When she pressed a small button below a blackened screen, a montage of videos showing Steve and Barnes throughout the war together began to play. Steve dipped his head in embarrassment as Barnes threw his head back in laughter – an expression Veronika couldn't even begin to imagine on the Winter Soldier.

There were three words in particular that caught her eye more than anything else, however. Three words that didn't fit into the image of the man she had created in her head after fighting him for so long. Three words that made her turn her back on the tribute and continue on her way through the exhibit.

 _Captured by Hydra._

It seemed impossible, and at the same time so obvious. She had only ever seen evidence that he worked for them willingly, but that meant nothing in their world. Regardless of how he came to be a part of Hydra, he was still the Winter Soldier now.

Yet, if she chose to believe that, how could she think any differently of herself? In her youth she had willingly worked for the Red Room, and she had certainly not agreed to anything they had done to her as a child. She thought herself a stronger, better person now that would never associate herself with the likes of them. Something told her he had never been given that choice.

In her wandering, Veronika found herself standing before a much larger screen than the others scattered throughout the exhibit with a set of risers acting as seats propped against the wall across from it. A door to the left of the risers labeled _Media_ became her new destination then. When she found it to be unlocked, she scoffed as the thought that the Smithsonian should really ramp up their security passed through her mind.

Inside the room was little else besides an open laptop on a desk, a video already pulled up with a sideways triangle covering the face of the man displayed on the screen. Veronika surveyed the room to double-check that nobody else was around before sitting in the plastic chair and clicking play.

" _The SSR continued to operate after the fall of its shining star. We have taken the time to piece together several saved records in the hopes that – "_

Veronika skipped past the narrator, and several interviews after that. She wasn't very interested at all in learning about anything other than the man she had come for.

" _We, uh… We were the only ones who spoke any French, so I had to act as a translator a lot. And to think, I had only learned the language because – "_

" _I mean, they were absolutely ruthless. But we weren't gonna give up so easily – not us Commandos. If you could count on us for anything – "_

" _He saved over a thousand men. Including the man who would eventually become my husband, as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life."_

Veronika ran her hands over her mouth, tapping thoughtfully at her lips as the clip faded to black. If she couldn't squeeze any more information out of Hydra, then she was just going to have to go further back – to the people who knew the man before the monster. It should be simple enough to trace a living lead that wasn't putting any active effort into hiding themselves.

Looking once more to the woman on the screen – _Agent Peggy Carter, SSR_ – Veronika pushed to her feet to exit the museum.

* * *

According to their website, The Washington Nursing Home and Hospice's visiting hours ended at 10 PM. Meaning Veronika had a mere 32 minutes to speak with the woman before she was kicked out and would be on her own to find information once more. She hadn't had the time for a well-rounded fake identity, so she could only hope that her refined acting skills would get her into the room she was looking for.

Veronika drew her brows together before slipping a wary frown onto her lips, appearing nervous and apologetic as she approached the front desk. "Hello," she greeted the very clearly tired nurse in a voice with just the right amount of trembling to make it sound like she hadn't wanted it to. "I'm here to see Margaret Carter. It's not too late, is it?"

The nurse – Lillian, according to her nametag – glanced at the clock before shaking her head. "Not quite yet. We are only open for another few minutes, however. If you came back tomorrow morning – "

"My flight leaves tomorrow at eight," Veronika interrupted, "and I won't be back in D.C. for another six months. I know it was irresponsible of me to wait so long, but I was just so nervous about seeing her again. You know, what with the memory loss and all, I wasn't sure she would remember me."

Lillian's expression softened into a more sympathetic one at the story Veronika invented on the spot, nodding understandingly. "Of course. You're not the first person to be afraid of what you'll see… Come on, I'll show you to her room… What did you say your name was?"

"Veronika. I have my driver's license right…" Veronika patted the pockets of her jeans before dropping her shoulders with a nearly silent sigh. "I think I left it in the car. I was in such a rush to get here, you know," she chuckled nervously. "I'll just run and grab it really quick."

"It's no bother," Lillian dismissed with a wave of her hand and a naïve smile. "You seem trustworthy enough. Any friend of Miss Peggy's is a friend of ours."

Veronika settled on offering the woman a tired yet appreciative grin before following her down the corridor, rather than laugh outright at the thought that anyone might call her trustworthy or a friend. The pair crept past closed doors that concealed sleeping men and women in silence, stopping in front of a white door marked by three silver numbers – _182._

"Luckily for you, Miss Peggy is a bit of a night owl," Lillian assured in a quiet voice, pushing the door open and walking in ahead of Veronika. "Miss Peggy? You have a visitor."

Veronika found herself somewhat impressed with the arrangement of the room as she entered, taking a moment to observe her surroundings – as was usual for the cautious woman – before settling her gaze on the frail woman in the hospital bed. It was obvious that she had lived here for some time, judging by the amount of personal effects scattered along side tables and postured upon the walls. For a woman who supposedly remembered little to nothing about her life, it seemed she had led quite a full one.

Veronika was sure to thank Lillian once more after the nurse excused herself from the room, nodding with a gentle smile as she closed the door behind herself with a barely audible _click._ Turning then to the woman whose eyes predictably showed no recognition, Veronika allowed her own small smile to ease onto her lips as she approached a padded living chair to the left of the bed.

"Hello, Peggy," she began after seating herself, threading her fingers together and leaning back comfortably. She had internally debated the best way to gain this woman's trust in such a short amount of time the entire drive over, and had finally settled on a story she thought to be decently believable. "Do you remember me?"

She watched as a tinge of sadness flickered in Peggy's eyes, an apologetic grin tugging at the corners of her mouth that only made the surrounding wrinkles more pronounced. "You'll have to forgive me, dear. I have trouble remembering quite a bit these days, it would seem."

"Through no fault of your own, of course. I'll just start from the beginning, shall I?" Peggy's silent sigh was all the encouragement Veronika needed to nod her head, the lies slipping more easily through her lips than any truth she might have told.

She spun the invented tale of a woman named Veronika Walker, who had spent her life in search of answers. Her mother, Caroline Walker, was an uninteresting woman who could never be bothered with learning about anything outside of the tedious job that kept her locked in an office eight hours a day, five days a week. Her grandmother, however, was an adventurous woman. Even in her climbing age, Rebecca Proctor encouraged her granddaughter to grasp at whatever minor opportunities to better herself the world might present.

"I stayed with my grandmother a lot when I was younger," Veronika lied. "I always loved listening to her stories about her own childhood. Tales of running through the streets with her siblings, unafraid of the world and all the possible adventures it held for them… That's why she encouraged me to come meet you, actually."

Peggy's thin eyebrows drew together in confusion. Veronika had noticed throughout her story telling that the woman in front of her was quick to show her emotions on her face – not something she had expected from an army woman, but something she found to be useful now. "I knew your grandmother? This… Rebecca, you called her?"

"No. You knew her brother."

Veronika waited patiently as Peggy's lips pursed in thought, the gears almost visible behind her eyes as they turned in her head. "I don't remember any men with the last name Proctor… Though these days, I suppose that doesn't mean much."

A smile that said she knew more than she was letting on settled onto Veronika's features as she shook her head lightly. "His name wasn't Proctor. It was Barnes."

It took a moment, but Peggy's expression brightened considerably when the recognition finally filtered through the holes in her memory. "Barnes… Yes, I knew a Barnes. He was a good friend, a long time ago. You say he was your grandmother's brother?"

"My great uncle," Veronika confirmed with a nod. An odd feeling surged in her chest at calling The Winter Soldier family – one that almost made her frown in disgust at the thought of being related to him. She refused to let it slip onto her carefully constructed mask, however. Smile firmly in place, she leaned her elbows forward onto the bed. "Yet I never had the pleasure of meeting him. When I asked about him, my grandmother told me all about him as a child. She couldn't tell me much about his adult years, though. That was when she suggested I meet you."

Veronika wasn't sure whether it was the fact that Peggy didn't have many visitors – a fact Lillian had relayed with a sorrowful frown marring her lips – or simple joy at being able to relay the account of her dauntless past, but the woman seemed quite excited to open up to Veronika.

If it weren't for the phone vibrating in her pocket, Veronika might have been able to get the full story she was looking for right then and there. A spark of irritation at being interrupted so close to her goal flickered in the back of her mind, but she simply excused herself politely to the back of the room as she checked the caller ID on her phone – _Unknown_.

There was only one person who had this number that Veronika hadn't had the pleasure of receiving the same courtesy from. Someone who had only acquired the number quite recently, and someone she had promised to help should they need it. Glancing at a very impatient looking Peggy, Veronika sighed to herself for being so sentimental before answering.

* * *

 **Wow, who could that be on the phone? The answer…** _ **might**_ **surprise you. Might not. I suppose we'll find out in the next chapter!**

 **Which, coincidentally, I hope to see you in very soon.**

* * *

 **Chapter 11 Preview**

"That does seem like something I would enjoy," Veronika conceded with a quiet sigh, tapping her fingers thoughtfully against her cheek. "Death, destruction, all focused on the bad guys… You really should have called me sooner."


	11. Unwarranted, Unwanted

**необоснованное , нежелательная**

 _Unwarranted, Unwanted_

* * *

"I knew you couldn't stay mad at me," Veronika teased the moment she answered the phone call. After all, very few people had the means to reach her on this phone – only one of which she didn't have the pleasure of knowing how to reach in return.

" _Hello to you too, Veronika."_

Veronika blinked twice, lowering her voice. "Ah. Steve. You aren't who I was expecting… Which I can only assume means that my dear Lia has yet to come to her senses."

" _I happen to be quite aware of my senses, thank you."_ Natasha's voice carried a slight echo, letting Veronika know that she had been put on speaker. Unwilling to speak too freely without being aware of who all was listening in, Veronika decided to take a cautious approach in her words.

"Yes, I'm sure. Unfortunately, I'm a bit tied up at the moment," she said with a glance towards Peggy, who had raised a curious eyebrow in her direction. As their eyes met the older woman crossed her arms lightly, drawing a chuckle out of the assassin. "Is there something in particular either of you needed?"

" _Why is she laughing?"_ Veronika recognized the voice as belonging to Sam Wilson – the man who had managed to surprise her earlier that afternoon by taking flight with a pair of mechanical wings. That had certainly been a first for her.

Sam's question went unanswered as Steve spoke again. _"I'm guessing you know about SHIELD?"_

Veronika scoffed at the obvious question, turning to face the wall keeping her voice low to prevent her newly acquired friend from eavesdropping. "And I'm guessing that you already know the answer to the question. As I said, I'm a bit preoccupied, so if we could hurry along to the good bits I'd greatly appreciate it."

"As would I," Peggy chimed in, apparently having overheard despite Veronika's efforts. The assassin looked back at the woman over her shoulder, her eyes glimmering with mirth at the old broad's bubbling irritation. "I apologize for being rude, but we are on a time crunch, dear."

" _Who are you with?"_

"Hold, please," Veronika said in lieu of an answer to Steve's question. She muted the call despite his protests, lowering the cell to her side as she turned to face Peggy fully and with an amused grin. "I do apologize for the interruption. It is quite an important call, however, so if you wouldn't mind just answering one quick question for me before I have to go?"

Though Peggy seemed far less than pleased at the revelation that she would soon be left alone, she nodded her acceptance of the situation. "Only if you promise to come earlier on your next visit."

Again Veronika chuckled underneath her breath, imaging the look on Steve's face if he were to find out that not only had she dropped in on his wartime sweetheart, but had arranged a second appearance as well. "Very well," she agreed. When Peggy remained silent, Veronika took it as her cue to continue. "How did James die?"

It had been the one question she couldn't seem to find the answer to – either in the classified files of the Winter Soldier or the tribute to James Buchanan Barnes standing in the Smithsonian. His first life had been summarized into three short paragraphs on a piece of glass, his second shrunk down into missions reports on yellowed papers. Yet absolutely nowhere that she had looked provided any insight into his "death".

Veronika realized that she may have asked too bluntly when the amusement in Peggy's eyes dimmed, her palm resting over the left side of her chest. Remembering her cover, Veronika lowered her lips into a frown as she drew her eyebrows together. With a look of sad contrition, she walked forward until she was close enough to slide her hand over Peggy's.

"Please," she added quietly. "My grandmother only ever knew what the official records said – that he had been killed in action. I just thought that if she knew the truth it might help her to finally move on, after all these years."

Peggy was silent for another moment, her eyes closed as she breathed deeply. Veronika glanced idly at the ticking clock on her phone, taking into account that not only were visiting hours over in three minutes, but she had left Steve on hold for nearly two. It was a wonder he hadn't hung up on her yet – must be urgent, then.

"My poor Steve."

The time was immediately forgotten when Peggy's voice cracked. Untrained ears might not have caught the slight raise at the end of her words, but Veronika would have heard it from across the room. Poor Steve? Hadn't they just been discussing James?

"It was an accident," Peggy elaborated after allowing herself another calming breath. "I wasn't there, so I don't know all the details, but… When he returned, Steve needed somebody to talk to. With his best mate recently deceased, I suppose I had become his shoulder to cry on. They had invaded a train to capture an evil man – Dr. Arnim Zola. He was the one who had tortured James almost a year prior."

Veronika recognized the name from the Winter Soldier's file. His brand of torture was experimentation, a favorite among the group of serpents. So they had gone to capture him. She could only imagine James' determination, but if it was anything like it was these days then she could only assume that he had been a force to be reckoned with.

"There was an agent carrying a double-barreled weapon exclusive to Hydra. The only armor it couldn't penetrate was Steve's shield. The force of the bullet's ricochet was enough to knock the shield from his hands, however. He fell to the floor, and when he looked up… The agent was dead, but James was nowhere in sight."

Peggy finally looked up at Veronika, her wrinkled face sunken with grief. "The wall had been destroyed. James had just managed to latch onto a safety rail while Steve tried to grab him, pull him back in, but… Well. The winds were simply too strong."

 _He had fallen from a moving train?_ That would certainly constitute death, it would seem. Yet it hadn't. Veronika knew from the Winter Soldier's files that he had been "rescued" from a frozen mountain pass in Serbia. Dr. Zola's experiments might have been enough for him to survive his fall, though she was sure he was anything but grateful when returned to the hands of Hydra.

Which could only mean that her theory from the museum had been correct. He hadn't joined Hydra. He had been captured, tortured, experimented on. They had ripped James Barnes from his body and stuffed the Winter Soldier in, never once caring that in creating a weapon they had destroyed a man. In fact, she was quite sure that they would have considered it a positive side effect if not an initial intention.

When the images of a young, naïve James Barnes being strapped to a table as countless serums and injections were forced into his body blended seamlessly into her own experiences with the Red Room, a funny tasted filled Veronika's mouth. Her fake frown was replaced by a genuine one as she glanced away from Peggy. "I'm sorry," she apologized, though she wasn't sure what for or even if she had meant her words.

Peggy sighed, but before she had the chance to either accept or refuse the apology Veronika had moved to the door. "I should go," she called over her shoulder, either unwilling to set her eyes on the woman or unable.

"When will you visit again?"

Veronika paused with her fingers curled around the handle. It seemed that this was to be one of those moments when her damned _feelings_ found it appropriate to surface – guilt for promising to return when she highly doubted that was the case, and for lying to the genuine and kind woman behind her in the first place – despite decades of practice.

"I won't be in D.C. for a few months," she settled on saying, twisting the handle as she did so for a quick escape. "I won't be able to visit, not for a long time. I shouldn't have… I'm sorry."

Veronika didn't give Peggy the chance to breathe another word before hurrying from the room, shutting the door with a definitive click as if the barrier between them would somehow rebuild the walls she had placed around herself. It was highly inconvenient, these unwarranted emotions that had been nagging at her since _that conversation_ with her Natalia two years ago.

 _You're not the only person to ever do terrible things. The world isn't so black and white. Doing terrible things doesn't make you a terrible person, just like doing good things doesn't make you a good person. It's more complicated than that._

Perhaps doing terrible things hadn't made Veronika a terrible person. Perhaps the blood that dripped endlessly from her hands could be wiped away with enough help. Perhaps the cold detachment she felt in the moment of the kill could be warmed by the right hands. Perhaps if she did just enough good…

 _Just like doing good things doesn't make you a good person._

Veronika swallowed the odd lump that had formed in her throat, casting a glance at the phone she still held in her hands as she did so. The call had been muted for nearly six minutes. If they were willing to wait that long, they could wait until she had safely evacuated the nursing home before speaking to her again.

And wait they did. Veronika offered a plastic grin to Lillian as she walked through the lobby and out the front doors, towards one of only four cars that remained in the lot. Once she had safely slid into the driver's seat, the phone was placed atop the console and the call unmuted.

" – _right up Veronika's alley. I doubt it would even take too much convincing."_

"I beg to differ," Veronika interrupted Steve, chasing away the fleeting remnants of sentiment that plagued her mind with conjured images of the shock on their faces as she suddenly returned to the conversation. "You know what they say about assuming, Captain. Why don't you explain to me what you consider _right up my alley_?"

" _Welcome back,"_ Sam greeted in what Veronika was positive to be a sarcastic tone. She thanked him regardless, a smirk settling onto her lips at the sound of an exaggerated snort.

Despite the obvious frustration in the Captain's tone at her disappearances and reappearances, he went on to explain the plan as it currently stood. It really wasn't that well-constructed, in Veronika's opinion, but the best they could do on short notice it seemed.

Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD – that much they knew. The only way to rid the world of Hydra once and for all would be to completely dismantle it from the inside out, starting with SHIELD.

 _You could stay here. SHIELD take sin all kinds of… undesirables. They took me._

Veronika swatted at the air in front of her face, as if physically shooing away the unbidden memory of Natasha's invitation. It seemed to make much more sense now, however, as to why exactly they had been willing to take in spies and assassins with fluid loyalty.

Due to her unintentional reminiscing, Veronika had missed a few sentences of Steve's explanation, but still managed to catch the gist of it.

Natalia was to go undercover as a member of the World Security Council, where she would be led straight into the heart of the Triskelion. Meanwhile, Steve along with Sam and a friend she had yet to meet name Maria would all break in via an air tower. Once inside, they would work their way to communications where Steve would deliver a speech beseeching upon the humanity of SHIELD agents –

"Yes, yes, I understand," Veronika interrupted when he got to that part. "Captain America will rally the troops still loyal to the good guys. What I'm not understanding is where exactly I fit into this little raid."

" _That would be where I come in."_

A voice Veronika didn't recognize – one that sounded just a bit too chipper for her tastes, though it also carried a determination she couldn't help but respect – spoke up, becoming clearer as she assumed the woman stepped closer to the phone. "And you are?"

There was a pause before she answered, and Veronika imagined her looking to Steve for permission before answering. _"Agent Sharon Carter. And you're the woman who's supposed to be our resident Hydra expert."_

Veronika wondered idly who had nicknamed her as such, leaning back against her seat. "One facet of it in particular, actually – though I wouldn't call myself uneducated when it comes to the snakes."

" _Which is why you'll be helping me sort them out from those loyal to SHIELD."_

It was further explained that Veronika would accompany Sharon as a trainee recruit as a way to infiltrate the heart of the Triskelion. While everyone else was assuming their positions, Veronika was meant to point out potential Hydra agents to Sharon as they wandered the halls. "A friend" had gifted the group with retinal scanners that could be worn over their eyes like contact lenses. When Veronika ID'd someone as Hydra, she could click a small button on the pen she would be given to mark them as an enemy.

" _You'll be our eyes on the ground,"_ Sharon finished. _"And of course, as soon as the action starts, you'll be helping me distract the STRIKE and Insight teams to keep them off Steve and Sam's backs."_

"That does sound like something I would enjoy," Veronika conceded with a quiet sigh, tapping her fingers thoughtfully against her cheek. "Death, destruction, all focused on the bad guys… You really should have called me sooner."

" _We did,"_ Natasha quipped. _"You were indisposed, remember?"_

"I remember nothing of the sort."

" _Well if you wouldn't have run away on the bridge, we wouldn't have had to call you at all."_

"Regardless – " Veronika shrugged despite the fact that none of them could see her actions " – this all seems fine and dandy, but how exactly do you plan on Steve being quick enough to insert your friend's chips into all of the helicarriers before they launch? He may be enhanced, but he's not magic."

" _Really loving the confidence,"_ Steve said with false enthusiasm.

"Sam should take one," Veronika continued as if he hadn't spoken. "He flies, therefore he'll be quicker in the air, obviously."

" _You want us to split up?"_ Steve didn't seem too keen on the idea.

Sam shared his apprehension. _"I'm more of a duo kind of guy."_

"Might I remind you both that time is of the essence?" Veronika sat straighter in her chair, shaking her head as she started the car. "Which reminds me, I'm going to need an address to meet you at, Sharon."

" _You can call me Agent Carter."_

"Whatever makes you more comfortable, Sharon."

Veronika went quiet after receiving a text message containing an unfamiliar address, though she continued to listen intently to her phone as she drove. Natasha had begun discussing the logistics of armor and weaponry, reminding Veronika that she was quite woefully unprepared to undertake such a mission as uprooting SHIELD. She wasn't about to back out now, though.

She hadn't been lying to Agent Carter when she said that there was one particular facet of Hydra with which she was closely acquainted. And if she knew anything about the Winter Soldier at all, she knew that there was no chance in hell that he wasn't going to be in attendance at an even such as this. Hydra would want it to go off without a hitch, meaning they would have every reason to employ the talents of their greatest creation.

Those thoughts distracted her as she recalled all the information she had acquired throughout the night's investigations.

Veronika imagined standing in front of the Winter Soldier. It wasn't difficult to see, considering she had stood toe-to-toe with the man more times than she cared to count. She imagined finally gaining the upper hand. She imagined pressing the barrel of a locked and loaded gun to his forehead.

She imagined Steve standing over her shoulder, begging her not to kill him. She imagined cropped hair and a scruffy face. She imagined blue eyes that held the warmth of the sky and the depth of the sea, rather than the ice that covered them now. She imagined catching just a glimpse of James Barnes hidden underneath layer after layer of brainwashing, fighting to break through to the surface.

" _I need to know that I can trust you on this."_

Veronika blinked back to reality, glancing at her phone before returning her eyes to the road. What had Steve been saying? She mentally rewound his past few sentences, playing them once more in her head.

He had asked her to stay with Sharon for the duration of the infiltration. _"This only works if we all play our parts,"_ he had said. _"That means sticking to the plan whether you like it or not. I need to know that I can trust you on this."_

"You're the boss," Veronika agreed. "Just tell me where you need me."

* * *

 **Next chapter – the launch of Insight.**

 **What do you think about Sharon's involvement? I hinted at it in an earlier chapter, and hope you'll like what I do with her character. I finally got to see Civil War on opening night four days ago, so I think I have a better feel for her character than by just watching Winter Soldier, and can't wait to incorporate her into the story more – especially as Veronika's partner.**

 **Let me know what you thought of the chapter, and what you expect to see in the ones to come!**

 **As always, I will see all of your beautiful buns in the next one.**

* * *

 **Chapter 12 Preview**

 _You're an agent of SHIELD_ , Sharon chanted mentally in an attempt to soothe her growing irritation. _A highly qualified, highly trained agent. You've trained for more torturous situations than this._ But as Veronika continued to ramble, the thought crossed her mind that she might be wrong.


	12. The Storm Before The Storm

**буря перед бурей**

 _The Storm Before The Storm_

* * *

While she hadn't been exactly sure where the address provided by Sharon had been leading her, Veronika certainly hadn't expected to be pulling into the parking garage of a high-rise building on the edge of the Potomac river in plain view of anyone who might turn her way. It wasn't a problem to be out in the open, but she had been under the impression that this was to be a stealth mission on her part.

Leaving the third car she had stolen since being in D.C. in a reasonably accessible spot – in case of the need for a quick getaway – she found a blonde woman waiting for her near the entrance of the garage with her arms planted firmly across her chest. Veronika locked the car behind her with three clicks of a button over her shoulder before pocketing the keys as she approached the new woman. "You must be Sharon."

The woman's eyes flicked minutely as they appraised Veronika – most likely comparing her to the description that had been provided – before she corrected her. "You must be the expert."

"So I've been told."

Sharon took another moment to inspect Veronika before seeming to decide something, nodding her head once as she turned on her heel. Veronika followed with a bit more bounce in her step, stalling for time until she would have to go undercover as a stuffy SHIELD agent.

"Has anyone ever told you that Triskelion sounds an awful lot like Tri-skeleton?" Veronika asked on a whim. "Do you think it was on purpose? Or was whoever named it subconsciously morbid? I can't decide which scenario I find more amusing."

"I never thought about it," Sharon brushed off.

"You'd think it was fairly obvious. Perhaps you've been so focused on the finer details that you never took time to notice the obvious, hmm?"

"I notice plenty." Sharon looked both ways before crossing the street leading up to the Triskelion's entrance, eyeing the woman to her right warily. "For this plan to work, you're going to have to be a bit more – "

"Please," Veronika interrupted with a scoff, her posture remaining aloof. "I've been going undercover since before you were born. I _am_ the expert, after all."

There was a tick of irritation in Sharon's jaw that seemed familiar to Veronika, so whatever the agent said next was glossed over in her mind as she focused instead on the twitch. Where had she seen it before?

" – HYDRA agents, not SHIELD. And SHIELD agents aren't generally very _bouncy_. If I were you, I would – "

"Steve's jaw does that."

Sharon faltered slightly at being interrupted again. She blinked once at the sudden change of conversation, wondering in the back of her mind how somebody like Agent Romanoff had ever put up with this woman. "I'm sorry?"

"That." Veronika tapped her own jaw with a growing smirk. "Every time I interrupt you, your jaw clenches. Steve's jaw does that."

Silence fell over the two women for a time. Sharon found herself relieved that Veronika had found a way to entertain herself more quietly, while Veronika simply took a few moments to observe Sharon from her peripheral vision. Though they could not have been any more different, the women had very similar thoughts running through their heads.

 _This is going to be an adventure._

As the pair grew closer to their positions, Sharon remembered what exactly Veronika had been brought along for. "Here." She produced a white contact lens case from the pocket of her suit, along with a silver pen that glistened under the bright sun and a thin black sphere. "We'll all be wearing identical contacts, along with communication devices in our inner ear lobes. If you see anyone that might be HYDRA, focus your eyes on them before clicking the pen."

"And if someone is to ask why I'm clicking the pen?"

Sharon took a deep, steadying breath. "Pretend you're about to write something."

"What if I don't have any paper?" Veronika crossed one arm over her stomach, using it as a shelf to balance her other elbow as she thrummed her fingers against her chin in mock thought. "What if it's already clicked open, and I'm clicking it shut? Why would I be carrying an already open pen? Perhaps it would be more simple if I were to come up with a more suitable lie. Or is that against the rules? You lot don't seem to trust me very much. Although – "

 _You're an Agent of SHIELD,_ Sharon chanted mentally in an attempt to soothe her growing irritation. _A highly qualified, highly trained agent. You've been trained for more torturous situations than this._ But as Veronika continued to ramble, the thought crossed her mind that she might be wrong.

"Okay!" Sharon finally caved, whirring to block Veronika from continuing any further. She was sure to keep her voice low and a relatively blank expression on her face as they had officially entered SHIELD property and were no longer alone, but allowed all of her pent-up frustration to seep in to her tone. "Here's the deal. You are _only_ here because – for some insane reason – two of SHIELD's most respected agents, who also just so happen to be two-sixths of the Avengers, vouched for you. But you aren't with them right now. You're with me, and I decide how deep you go. I'm going to tell you right here and now that if you say one more irrelevant quip, you will never set foot inside that building. Is that clear?"

Veronika features were carefully constructed, all traces of teasing gone as she observed the woman before her. It was an uncomfortable moment for Sharon – to be standing in front of somebody she had never met before, but supposedly knew everything there was to know about Hydra and had an unexplained past that was impossible to read on her face.

It was unclear how long it took for Veronika to respond, but when she did, it hadn't been anything Sharon was expecting. "Natalia vouched for me?"

Sharon blinked one… two… three times before shaking her head and mumbling a quick, "Nevermind."

Though it seemed inconsequential to Sharon, the sentiment was enough to quiet Veronika for the remainder of the journey into the Triskelion. Of course, she went through all the motions she had been assigned. Swiping a fake ID to gain access to restricted areas, nodding at the passing agents she had supposedly joined the ranks of. Her mind, however, was a few dozen floors above her body.

Veronika imagined Natasha standing among the World Security Council under the guise of Councilwoman Hawley. It was unclear from Sharon's statement whether Natasha had simply gone along with the plan presented or incorporated her own ideas, but Veronika liked to imagine that it had been her sister's idea to ask for her help. It was only a fleeting wish, but one that made the plastic smile glued to her lips the slightest bit more genuine.

" _We are in final launch sequence."_

Those words shook Veronika from her thoughts, and she realized that Sharon had led her all the way to the main launch room. Pleasant thoughts aside, it was perhaps best to devote her attention to the task at hand for now.

Rolling her shoulders back in a show of nonchalance, Veronika worked to seamlessly blend into her surroundings as she observed the agents bustling around her as if she were nothing but a fly on the wall. She hadn't trained for decades to blend into the background for nothing, after all.

A white circle with serrated edges filtered over Veronika's right eye as she focused on the man controlling the launch of the helicarriers. His fingers twitched slightly over the keyboard as his hands shook, his voice holding the faintest hint of a tremble as he announced that they had just passed the two-hour mark until launch. While his nervousness might have indicated guilt in a different situation, it showed Veronika that he most certainly was _not_ Hydra.

Her eyes trailed over a tall brunette, a short blonde, a man long overdue for a shave, a woman balancing three coffees precariously atop a mountain of files, three men too busy with their own gossip to be paying much attention the oversized screens at the front of the room.

She had already pegged seven possible agents by the time her gaze drifted back to Sharon. A small smirk tugged at her lips at the temptation to identify her as Hydra – jokingly, of course – but she ultimately decided against it. The woman had been entertaining enough to bounce jokes off of, and Veronika wouldn't want the other to think that she was being serious and harm the innocent woman.

A cold gust of air blew into the room as the glass doors at the back slid open, one man slipping in with purposeful strides toward the only other entrance to the room that Veronika had yet to see anyone come through. If his tense atmosphere wasn't enough to give him away, or the fact that he was more heavily armed than anyone else in the building, his own shifty eyes landing on Veronika would have tipped her off.

As the man in black took in his surroundings, he paused his gaze over Veronika. It was only a brief moment before she looked away, but that split second of eye contact mixed with his pinched eyebrows and thinly pursed lips had been more than enough.

Stepping casually closer to Sharon, she lowered her voice. "My one o'clock. Mr. Mysterious Eyes, Broad Shoulders and Chiseled Jaw. He's packing for a hell of a lot more than just another day at the office."

Sharon ran her fingers through her hair as she cast a glance towards the pointed direction. "Rumlow… You know what to do," she mumbled. "Identify him."

"I think he knows me."

There was a pause before Sharon responded, angling her clenched fist over her mouth to muffle her words further. "That's not possible. You're not in any of SHIELD's databases."

Veronika worked her jaw thoughtfully, glancing once more at the second exit to the room. The man stood stock-still, his fingers curled tightly over the handle and his gaze remaining firmly trained on her. Grumbling silently to herself, Veronika leaned away from Sharon. She knew that she had managed to stay off of SHIELD's radar with just the right mix of sheer luck and Natasha's obsession with keeping her past separate from her future. Of course her Natalia would never be so stupid as to search for her using SHIELD resources. Yet if that was true, how had she been recognized?

Like the switch of a lightbulb, it clicked for Veronika.

She swept past Sharon with her destination clear, ignoring the fact that the blonde had attempted to stop her hasty retreat with a hand on her forearm. She knew that Sharon wouldn't risk tipping anyone off by following her, leaving her free to pursue her own goals without interruption. At least for a time.

Veronika was sure to remain like a ghost gliding through walls as she worked her way meticulously through the crowd, keeping her head down for fear of another chance encounter. To do so meant slowing herself down considerably, however, and she hadn't made it very far before all conversations in the room were interrupted by the speakers above their heads.

" _Attention all SHIELD agents. This is Steve Rogers."_

"Of course," Veronika growled beneath her breath. As the entire room became still as a painting, the agents holding their breath in anticipation, there would be no conceivable way for her to continue her exit without drawing unwanted attention. Turning slowly to face the front of the room that proudly displayed only one hour and fifty-seven minutes until the launch of Project Insight, Veronika caught a glimpse of Sharon glaring in her direction – though it went largely ignored on her end.

" _You've heard a lot about me over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. And I think it's time you knew the truth… SHIELD is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA, and Alexander Pierce is their leader. The S.T.R.I.K.E and Insight crew are Hydra as well."_

Risking a quick look towards the man who had been watching her since his entrance – Rumlow, according to Sharon – she saw that he had looked away just long enough to push the door open. He was joined by another five men, all brandishing the same bold white letters across their backs – S.T.R.I.K.E.

" _I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want – absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, Hydra will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them."_

There would be no quick escape for Veronika this time around. Realizing this, she took a deep breath to herself before drawing the pistol from her thigh holster as slowly and silently as possible. If she was correct – and she usually was when it came to these things – at least a dozen people in here were armed and ready to kill. Though she felt no love for SHIELD, she hadn't come here for no reason.

" _I know I'm asking a lot. The price of freedom is high – it always has been. It's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."_

Rumlow and company were striding confidently into the room with all eyes attached to their forms. The five who had been trailing behind moved to station themselves throughout the room as Rumlow paused near Veronika, narrowing his eyes at her despite the grin gracing his lips. Veronika raised her eyes to meet his, though she kept her body facing forward and her gun at her side.

"Look at what I've found. The Soldier's girlfriend."

It was unclear to the rest of the room who had drawn their weapons first, but Veronika was quite aware of what she had started by pressing the barrel of her pistol between Rumlow's eyes. Before anyone could even breathe, the entire room had moved to their feet with their guns pulled and ready to fire. There was just one small problem – none of them knew who to shoot.

"Does HYDRA hire based solely off of good looks, or do any of you actually possess even a shred of skill?"

Rumlow's previous grin grew into a full-blown smirk at Veronika's words. "I see why he liked you. Too bad about his memory problems."

Veronika only offered a one-armed shrug before pressing her weapon more harshly against his skull to reiterate its presence. His response was to raise his hands in defense, casting glances to the scene around himself. "As lovely as this meeting has been," Veronika said, her voice dripping with insincerity, "I'm going to need a cancellation code for Insight. Can't let those pesky little airplanes up and about with innocent people's lives on the line."

Rumlow would have tilted his head in any other situation, but considering the predicament he currently found himself in he decided against it. "You think that even if I had it, I would give it to you?"

"Oh, I know you will."

A chuckle escaped his lips, causing the rest of the agents in the room to itch their fingers closer to their triggers. "And how do you figure that?"

"Because there are more of us than there are of you," she shrugged as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. "Agents Sheffield, Clarke, Kilmer, Dante, Orion, Williams, Nevins and Montgomery."

The names meant little to Rumlow, but Sharon knew exactly what to do with that information. The first shot was all it took to spark a shootout worthy of any old Western movie, but all that mattered to Veronika was that it was the Hydra agents who were falling into pools of their own blood… Well, that and getting out with her own life intact.

Which is why when Rumlow used the cover of all-out warfare to drop and snatch a hidden weapon from a holster strapped to his calf, Veronika wasted no time in ducking for cover behind a desk that had been flipped over in all the raucous. Her own ammo supply was limited, unlike others in the building, meaning she didn't have their same option of "spray-and-pray". If she was going to shoot, it was going to have to be deliberate.

Veronika stood from her hiding spot with her finger poised over the trigger. It took little aim to fire at one of the previously mentioned SHIELD-turned-Hydra agents, landing a solid hit to the left side of their chest that would force their lungs to fill with blood in a matter of seconds. A second shot to a second target produced similar results, though it was far less satisfying due to the fact that she caught a glimpse of the overhead screen shortly after, that now displayed one lone word.

 **OVERRIDE**

Rumlow had disappeared from sight, most of the men and women who had previously littered the large conference room were either dead or dying, with Sharon knelt over the man who had previously been sitting at the controls. To Veronika, nothing had screamed _run_ like this scene before her in a long time.

This time, however, it wasn't the impulse to run away.

As was custom for her, Veronika abandoned her own used weapon in exchange for a corpse's better loaded one before running towards the exit the S.T.R.I.K.E team had entered through. Her job of identifying Hydra agents before the launch was over in both senses of the position – that Hydra agents would be clearly visible on their own by whether or not they shot at her, and that Insight had already launched.

" _Where did you go?"_ Sharon asked through the comm tucked inside Veronika's ear. _"What do you think you're doing?"_

"Oh, the usual. Something dramatic."

* * *

 **And dramatic it will be. I believe we will be finishing up the Winter Soldier plot next chapter, so expect an especially long one next time around. I'm not sure when exactly it'll be posted due to its extended length, but as soon as it's finished I'll have it up.**

 **Aaaand, as always – I will see you in the next one.**

* * *

 **Chapter 13 Preview**

Sam let out a deep sigh as he dropped his hands from his fists, instead waving Veronika closer. "I am so going to regret this."


	13. End Of The Line

**Конец строки**

 _End Of The Line_

* * *

This was it.

Everything Steve had been fighting for these past few days – _decades_ – it was all finally coming to a head. Hydra once again threatened the world's fragile balance, and once again he found himself on the defense's front lines. There was no doubt in his mind that he would win again, though this time he was determined to beat them once and for all.

Despite their best efforts, the helicarriers had been launched. Steve felt the wind whipping around him as he pushed through the doors leading onto the air strip. In the back of his belt were two of the three deactivation chips that needed to be inserted into the heart of the aircrafts in order to stop them from carrying out their orders. The third…

"Hey, Cap. How do we know the good guys from the bad guys?"

Steve glanced briefly at Sam over his shoulder before setting his sights back on the helicarrier marked IN-01. "If they're shooting at you, they're bad."

It became very quickly apparent who was bad. Sam shot off into the sky as Steve dropped from the ledge they had been running across, shielding his face from the hailstorm of bullets. Thankfully, the path towards the helicarrier was littered with tall boxes and shipping crates, providing ample cover to duck behind and weave around.

A quick peek over the top of the crate he had ducked behind showed Steve three Hydra agents headed his way. If he timed his attack correctly, he would be able to take out the two on the right before the one on the left looped around behind him and got in a lucky shot. It wasn't a foolproof plan, but the best he was going to be able to come up with on the spot.

The first man that turned the corner of Steve's chosen hiding spot was greeted with a broken nose, followed by a swift kick to the gut that sent him flying back the way he had come. His friend had similar luck, being picked up against his will and tossed carelessly into a separate pile of metal boxes.

Steve wasted no time pivoting on the heel of his foot when a grunt of pain reminded him of the third assailant. He needn't have worried, however.

"Well that was surprisingly easy," Veronika remarked, her eyes that sparkled with mirth lingering over the body of the Hydra agent for only a moment before lifting to meet Steve's. "You'd think that after a hundred years Hydra would have learned how to train their agents to listen for stealth attacks. They really aren't as smart as we give them credit for."

"You're supposed to be with Sharon," Steve said, sparing a glance to their surroundings before slowly continuing on his way. He hadn't exactly expected Veronika to nod in agreement or turn around and head back inside, but it was still somewhat of an annoyance when she followed after him.

"She doesn't need my help anymore. You, however, do."

" _Hey, Cap… Found those bad guys you were talking about!"_

Steve faltered in his footsteps, turning his eyes towards the sky. Smoke nearly blocked out the sun as explosions were clustered among the clouds. Sam was barely visible, ducking the attacks as best he could while trying to stop the quinjets from launching off the backs of the helicarriers.

"He might need help, too," Veronika allowed, waving a hand towards the battle happening overhead. "But he's also not really my priority right now."

"You okay?" Steve asked his friend, ignoring Veronika's nonchalant outlook on violence.

" _I'm not dead yet."_

"Key word _yet_."

" _I really don't appreciate your cynicism."_

Veronika only shrugged in response to Sam's retort, as if she weren't aware of the fact that there was no way he had seen her do so. Steve bit back the urge to roll his eyes at the people he found himself associated with these days.

"I know you want to help," Steve said to Veronika as his eyes fell on another small group of agents intent on stopping him at all costs. "But this isn't the time for you to try and be a hero. We have a plan – stick to it."

Veronika took a much less friendly approach to the men storming towards them than Steve, choosing a bullet to the unarmored parts of their bodies rather than simply incapacitating them. "I have absolutely no desire to be a hero. I'm just trying to be as efficient as possible in taking down the organization that has made the last sixty years of my life miserable."

"And what exactly – " there was a pause as one lucky woman landed a blow to Steve's gut before he could tackle her " – do you think we're doing wrong?"

"You're not doing the math."

"What math?"

Veronika brought the butt of her pistol down in a hard _smack_ against the last remaining agent's skull, causing him to crumple in a heap at her feet as she turned to Steve with an tired expression. "Three helicarriers." She held up three fingers, counting as she demonstrated. "Three chips. Two people. That leaves one chip unaccounted for – I assume you have it with you judging by the way you glanced at your utility belt when I mentioned the chips. How do you expect you'll be able to reach not one, but _two_ helicarriers before they get any further in the air?"

It didn't take a genius to realize what Veronika was suggesting, especially considering it had been her idea for Sam to take one of the computer chips in the first place. "No," Steve immediately disagreed with a firm shake of his head. He saw that his answer had darkened Veronika's features, but couldn't find the time or energy right then to worry about hurting her feelings – no matter how deeply buried.

"You don't trust me."

"You're surprised?"

The saying "palpable tension" came to mind as Steve and Veronika continued to dash towards the entrance to the first helicarrier. Steve's words had been harsh, but Veronika would have been a fool to believe he hadn't meant them. She was no fool. Quite the opposite in fact,

Steve didn't even hear the gunshot until after he was on the ground. A heavy, but not wholly uncomfortable weight pinned him to the ground after rolling with him behind a single crate. He barely had the chance to register what was happening before Veronika was lifting herself off of him, her pistol poised in a manner of seconds as she fired over the top of their cover. She must have hit her target, because instead of ducking once more beneath the cover she stood to her full height.

Looking down on Steve, who remained stunned on the ground staring up at her with questions burning behind his eyes, she offered him a final smirk. "If you're going to insist on saving the world singlehandedly, do us all a favor and try not to get killed until _after_ the saving."

With that, she was gone. As quickly as he could manage, Steve had collected his jumbled thoughts and stood once more. Not fifteen feet from where he and Veronika had previously been arguing laid a single Hydra agent, now nothing more than another dead body for the count. He had been so focused on getting onto the helicarrier, he hadn't even noticed…

Maybe he shouldn't have been so quick to judge Veronika, Steve thought. After all, she was here. That was what really counted in the end, wasn't it?

Regardless, he had a mission to do, with no time spared for regretting mere words when lives were on the line. Steve wiped his mind of all thoughts straying from the task at hand before picking up his pace towards the helicarrier marked IN-01.

Meanwhile, Sam was having a difficult time simply managing to stay in the air. He had been able to stop all of the quinjets, but had been forced to take evasive action from the remaining missiles by dropping back onto the ground below. Just as he was about to take off once more, he was interrupted by a very unwelcome guest stepping in front of him with a loud declaration of, "Wait!"

Sam groaned at the woman in front of him, anxious to get back in the air where he was most comfortable. "In case you haven't noticed, we don't have time for your mind games. So if you don't mind – "

"I need a lift."

Sam was torn between bursting out into a fit of laughter and suggesting a very good psychiatrist to Veronika as she took a step closer to him, all traces of her usual sarcasm gone from her face as she met his gaze. "You're not serious."

"Not usually," she admitted with a one-shoulder shrug. "But I am now."

"Why on earth would you need – "

Veronika answered Sam's question before he could finish asking it by producing a thin blue computer chip from an unseen pocket, holding it between her thumb and forefinger as she kept her eyes firmly on his. "I know you don't trust me – you have no reason to. But you have to trust that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to stop these people."

Sam propped his fists against his hips, sucking in an audible breath. "You're sure that you can pull this off? Cap won't be very happy."

"I honestly couldn't care less about his happiness right now," she brushed off. "You know about him and the Winter Soldier, right? Their past together."

"I… Yeah. How do you?"

"Do you really think Steve's going to be able to do what needs to be done if it comes down to it?" Veronika asked, ignoring Sam's question about her sources. "Because I can pretty much guarantee you that Hydra is going to have him around here someplace, and if it comes down to a fight between Steve and the Soldier… Is there any doubt in your mind that Steve would sooner die than kill him?"

"He would do the right thing," Sam argued.

"And get himself killed doing it."

Well… That was a little more difficult to argue with. Sam dropped his hands from his waist, instead waving Veronika closer. "I am so going to regret this."

A quiet chuckle escaped Veronika lips as she closed the gap between herself and Sam, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as he locked his own around her waist. "Probably."

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Natasha ignored the Councilman, choosing instead to continue in her typing. Alexander Pierce, however, was not so content to remain quiet. "She's disabling security protocols and dumping all the secrets onto the Internet."

"Including Hydra's."

"And SHIELD's," Pierce added, eyebrows raised innocently.

Natasha continued.

"If you do this, none of your past is going to remain hidden."

Natasha continued.

"Are you sure you're ready for the world to see you as you really are?"

Natasha looked up at the man she had briefly called Director, standing before her now with his hands raised as one of the World Security Council held a gun to his head. If the scene she found herself in now wasn't so infuriating, it would almost be funny. But it was, so it wasn't. And yet she smiled. "Are you?"

Natasha continued.

"What about your sister?"

Natasha stopped.

The three remaining member of the WSC turned their heads towards her as she paused, though they went largely unnoticed by her in that moment. It shouldn't have surprised her that Pierce knew about Veronika – he was the head of Hydra, after all. Of course he would know all about her and their past. It shouldn't have surprised her… But it did.

"Veronika," Pierce continued, his smirk growing as Natasha's fell. "Feisty little thing she is. Determined, too."

"She's not in any of SHIELD's files," Natasha pointed out, her fingers resuming their tip-tapping, though at a noticeably slower pace than before.

"But she is in Hydra's. I'll admit that we lost track of her for a few years there, but thanks to her relationship with the Winter Soldier, I'd say we've been sufficiently caught up."

Natasha was putting decades of training to good use trying to ignore Pierce, but he was just _so damned irritating._ How had he ever schmoozed his way to the top of the Hydra food chain, being the obnoxious prick he was?

"I was surprised to find out myself. Emotionless, ruthless, cold-hearted Veronika – chasing down a ghost story, all to protect her sister against a threat she couldn't even begin to fathom. You would think that she was no competition for the Winter Soldier, but she used a type of warfare that we hadn't anticipated… She made him feel something."

 _ **Warning: Secure files at risk.**_

 _ **Continue?**_

Natasha's fingertips hovered over the keys Y-E-S, barely brushing over the cool glass of the holographic letters.

"Of course, that's all gone now. Took a bit of, uh… cognitive recalibration, but we worked out the kinks. He knows exactly how to deal with her now, should they run into each other." Pierce's smirk transformed into something much darker as he tilted his head ever so slightly. "I wouldn't look into Veronika's files if I were you. You might not like what you find."

"You know what I don't like?" Natasha finally spoke, raising her eyes to meet Pierce's. He almost flinched at the unbridled hatred that smoldered beneath her cool exterior, threatening to burn through the ice. "People who threaten my family."

 _ **Yes.**_

…

…

…

 _ **Restricted Access.**_

"Disabling the encryption is an executive order," Pierce said in reference to the screen displaying Natasha's actions, lowering his hands back to his sides. "It takes two Alpha level members."

"Don't worry. Company's coming."

* * *

Veronika glared at the circular device in front of her, pinching the computer chip she had swiped from Steve while she'd had him pinned to the ground earlier. It hadn't been her best plan to steal the chip with absolutely no knowledge of how to use it, but there was no turning back now. Thankfully, she wasn't nearly as alone in this pursuit as she might have been were it not for the marvels of modern technology.

Tapping the black sphere tucked inside her ear to make sure it was still on, Veronika checked her surroundings once more for any stray agents before speaking. "Maria?"

" _Veronika? I need to keep my line clear for – "_

"Funny story," she interrupted. "I may or may not have happened upon one of those fancy little computer chips, while also stumbling upon the IN-03 mainframe. All pure happenstance, of course, but now that I'm here, I was wondering if you could tell me how to stop this thing."

There was a silence that Veronika assumed was being filled with many a heavy sigh on Maria's end before she answered, her voice dripping with exasperation. _"Press the silver button to open the available trays. Once they start rotating, press it again on the fourteenth tray. Remove the third chip from the left. It's going to ask you for a password before you can take it out, and another before you can lock the new one in."_

Veronika followed Maria's instructions down to the letter as she rattled them off, holding herself back from any witty comments or annoying quips. With more than one person on the line that she had some semblance of care for, this was no time for impractical banter.

This was the time to hunker down and show everyone – Natalia most of all– that she was more than just talk. That she was more than the assassin she had been raised to be, and more than someone to be feared.

That when it came down to the wire, she was someone to be trusted.

"Veronika?"

Veronika turned on her heel. At the opposite end of the grated pathway that held her above the glass dome encasing them stood none other than the man she had stolen the computer chip in the first place. He looked confused.

"Fancy meeting you here," Veronika said with a slight smile, her hands still in place over the keyboard that had shifted out from its hiding place demanding she enter too many codes to count. "Maybe I was wrong, gorgeous. Maybe you could have been here quick enough to take down to helicarriers before they got too far out." She offered a noncommittal shrug, as if to say that they would never know. "It's almost done now, though."

"What?" Steve glanced over Veronika's shoulder while she did the same, typing in another few numbers and letters as Maria fed them to her through her comm. He stepped closer until he stood only a few feet away from her, watching her fingers as they typed seemingly random key codes. "How did you even…?" In a moment of realization, Steve flipped open the pocket on his belt he had hidden the chip in only to find it empty. "When did you do that?"

Veronika finished what she had been typing as she answered, "When we were rolling around on the ground, of course. Saving you from that bullet was an added bonus, sure, but tackling you was really – " her words came to an abrupt halt as she turned back to him, her eyes widening only a fraction before she shouted, "Steve!"

* * *

His name had barely left her mouth before he heard the gunshot – practically felt the bullet whiz over his shoulder and embed itself inches from where Veronika's hand had been. He caught sight of her jumping back from the computer in surprise before he turned to face whoever had fired the shot. Though if he would have had to guess, it would have been an obvious answer.

Standing at the bottom of the short stairway that led directly to Steve and Veronika was the Winter Soldier… Bucky. Both of the people on the opposite end of the pathway had conflicted feelings about his presence there, though they could not be any more different in nature. While Veronika debated whether she should finish what she had started or abandon the computer to shift into a battle stance, Steve was at odds with himself over whether or not he could - or should – fight his former best friend, knowing that if he did neither would stop until they had accomplished their mission.

"People are gonna die, Buck. I can't let that happen," Steve pleaded in one last attempt to reason with this man. The man he had instantly recognized, but that had changed so deeply he was almost amazed that he ever had. Still, if even a single minuscule shred of his old Bucky remained, he knew that he had to try. "Please don't make me do this."

The only response from Bucky was a slight narrowing of his eyes. An inconsequential action to anyone else, but Veronika knew that tic better than the back of her hand. It had haunted her during their various encounters over the years, and her dreams eve longer than she cared to admit. The only difference between then and now was that this wasn't a one-on-one, bare knuckles brawl. This time that simple little twitch could very well mean the death of millions, if things didn't end sunny side up.

"Go for his left side," she whispered as quietly as humanly possible, hoping it was just enough for Steve to hear without the Soldier picking up on her words or reading her lips. There would be no time to explain all of his strengths and very few weaknesses, so she decided to go with the best one. "And don't let him pin you down."

They were the last words spoken before a flurry of action ensued. Steve's shield was pitched at Bucky, his left arm was raised to deflect the attack while his right aimed the gun he had just shot. Veronika returned to the computer, yelling at Maria that she had better hurry up and finish telling her how to stop this thing before it was too late.

It was difficult to ignore the grunts and thuds coming from behind her. Veronika's trigger finger was almost burning to snatch the gun holstered to her waist and join the fight, along with every receptor in her brain screaming against the action of keeping her back turned on her enemy. There were a few times when she heard one of the men growl or yelp that almost made her lose control of herself, the urge to be offensive or defensive – anything other than what she was right now – nearly too strong to ignore.

Maybe if she had listened to her instincts, the Winter Soldier wouldn't have been able to slam the full weight of his body against her without warning, sending them both tumbling over the edge of the walkway. She heard Steve shout something after her, but whatever he had said was drowned out by the sound of her back hitting the glass so hard she was almost surprised it hadn't cracked under the pressure. More importantly than that, the computer chip had been thrown from her hand and clattered noisily away from her.

Steve gripped the railing in front of him at the sound of Veronika's pained gasp. The fall hadn't been pleasant for Bucky, either, if the sluggish way he pushed himself away from her was anything to go by. He knew from firsthand experience, however, that he wouldn't be slowed for long. Steve took a few paces back before tucking his arms in by his sides, preparing himself for the jump.

Veronika's lungs ached for the air that had been forced out of her on impact while her limbs quickly switched from numb to throbbing. It was unfortunately a situation she was all too familiar with in dealing with The World's Biggest Asshole, and one that reminded her of one of the very first lessons she had learned from him.

 _Never turn your back on a ghost._

"Hello to you too, lover," she wheezed. Her voice was barely audible, but she knew that he had heard by the way his shoulders tensed as he pushed himself off the ground. "I'm glad you're not wearing the mask today. I missed those big baby blues."

There was only a moment of hesitation before the tip of his boot slammed against her side, leaving her left ribcage figuratively slapping her upside the head and calling her an idiot for not considering the second lesson.

 _Only tease a ghost if you're willing to deal with the consequences._

A small smirk found its way onto Veronika's lips in light of these "consequences", however, as she rolled closer towards the computer chip that had skidded away from her in the fall. Propping herself onto her elbows, Veronika crawled the short remainder of the way towards the tiny blue square that would supposedly save them all.

The second it was in her hand she felt a reverberating pain in the lower right side of her back that caused an involuntary scream as she curled in on herself. Multiple gunshots could be heard after that, but the majority of her focus was on the only one that had actually hit her. Pressing her hand against the pulsating wound made it slick with blood, and provided a momentary shock.

 _He had never been ordered, or even authorized, to kill her._

When had that changed?

" _Veronika, you only have two minutes left until the algorithm goes wide."_

It wasn't until his hand was on her shoulder that Veronika realized Steve had been talking to her, asking if she was all right and if she could get up. Her eyes fell over his shoulder before she answered, making sure the Soldier wasn't aiming for a much more vital part of her body this time around. When she saw him on the ground with his eyes closed and Steve's shield dropped a few feet away, she allowed herself to respond.

"The bastard got a lucky shot," she ground out through gritted teeth. "I got too cocky, that's all." There was no time to dwell on it for much longer, though she knew only one thing would stop a man like Steve from worrying about a wounded soldier in battle. "Here."

Steve cupped his hands together when Veronika thrust hers towards them, a cool weight nestling itself between his palms. When he looked down, he saw her fingers slipping away from his own, the chip she had stolen from him earlier that day left behind. He knew what it meant, what she wanted him to do with it. Still, he remained kneeled by her side.

"Go on, gorgeous," she encouraged him with a lilted grin to mask the fact that the lead nestled somewhere inside her abdomen was sending continuous flares of pain throughout her torso. "No time for arguments. You said it yourself – I'm not the hero. That's your job."

There was a flutter of regret in Steve's chest at having his own words used against him, but he knew that Veronika was only trying to get him to finish the mission. Pulling the chip closer to his chest, he offered her what felt like a wholly insufficient nod before standing.

* * *

Veronika watched Steve climb his way back towards the top platform for a moment before refocusing her efforts into pushing herself off the ground. If Steve was successful in bringing this thing down, she was going to have to be ready to make a jump for it. That wasn't going to happen if she just lied around all day because of a little bullet. She had pushed through a lot worse pain than this, after all.

Remembering Maria's panicked voice in her ear giving her a very short time limit, Veronika finally responded, "Steve has the chip. He's on his way to the console now. You'll have to – "

Veronika's instructions were cut short by the sound of another gunshot, her eyes quickly averting to where the Winter Soldier had been unconscious only moments ago. Somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered just how many bullets that pistol had in a single magazine, though the answer to that question seemed far less important than the fact that he had landed a hit to Steve's leg.

" _Have to what? What's happening up there?"_

"Help him."

Her own words seemed to finally spark that rush of adrenaline needed for Veronika to push all personal injuries aside, allowing her to push herself onto her feet. With the Soldier's attention solely on stopping Steve and completing his mission, Veronika was left with enough leeway to stumble for a moment before digging her heels in and making her plan concrete.

Steve felt each of the shots individually as their piercing sounds reverberated around the large dome he found himself in. One to the right leg, one to the left arm, one to the stomach, one to… Wait.

The fourth shot rang out as clearly as the first three, yet Steve felt no added pain as he just barely managed to slip the chip into place. Maybe Bucky had missed, or maybe he was just too numb to feel anything else. Regardless, the blue chip blinked green as it locked into the console, and Steve leaned his full weight against the computer as it did. "Charlie lock."

" _Okay, Cap, get out of there."_

Steve pushed himself away from the console and towards the railing of the walkway, searching the glass below. That was when he saw it.

He watched as Veronika swung her fist in a wide arc, clipping Bucky's jaw while he threw a rib shot at her with his free hand. Steve hadn't felt the fourth shot because it hadn't hit him – Veronika had stopped him. The least Steve could do in return was give her a fighting chance of getting out of this alive.

Bracing himself for yet another painful impact, Steve gave one last order to Maria before leaping over the edge of the grated path.

"Fire now."

* * *

Veronika ignored the glass shattering all around her as best she could, focusing every ounce of her attention into distracting the Soldier while she tried to formulate a plan. The destruction of the helicarrier could only mean that Steve had managed to finish the job, and they had minutes at best to get clear before they were taken out with it.

Her concentration was only broken by the loud whine of thick, heavy metal snapping in half under its own weight. With the angle it was tilted, Veronika would have been an idiot to not realize exactly where it was headed. In a final attempt to escape from the fight that she had initiated to allow Steve the time he needed, she slammed her shoulder against the Soldier's chest, knocking him onto his back as she turned and ran from the inevitable destruction.

"Steve!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, willing her voice to carry over the rippling explosions just outside the broken windows. "We need to go!" As if on cue, Steve landed in a crouch beside her. Before he could form words, however, his gaze landed on the man being crushed beneath the weight of a fallen support beam.

Whether it was their current situation or her own disregard for the matter, Veronika failed to see the internal struggle behind Steve's eyes as she grabbed his wrist and tugged him closer to the edge of the dome. Either way, she didn't realize what he wanted to do until he pulled away from her and ran towards Bucky. When she finally saw what was happening, she could have sworn she felt another crack forming in her very fragile sanity.

"Are you _insane_?" Veronika latched onto Steve's shoulder before he could pull the beam away, yanking him back onto his feet to face her. "Leave him, we have to go _now_!"

Steve knew that Veronika was terrified from her fingers that gripped him like an iron vice to her feet that strained to budge his unmovable form. He knew that despite all her bravado, she didn't want to die. Not here, not like this. He also knew that if he did what she wanted and left now, he would never forgive himself.

"So help me, Rogers, if you don't get your ass in gear I will throw you into the Potomac myself!"

That was an idea he could work with.

* * *

Bucky used the fact that Steve and Veronika were too busy arguing with each other to his advantage, twisting and turning himself beneath the little space he had between the beam and the glass to try and squirm his way free. If he could just free his leg, then he could kill Rogers while he was distracted and finally be done with all of this.

His calf screamed in protest at being scraped against the harsh metal like it was, but he ignored the searing pain in favor of continuing his efforts. At least until a sharp movement to his right caught his eye, causing him to look back towards his adversaries just in time to see something he certainly had not been expecting.

Just after Veronika threatened to throw Steve into the river if he refused to jump in himself, he watched as the Captain reversed her grip by placing his hands on her shoulders. A quick, "I'm sorry," was all he offered the woman before forcing her forward with three long strides. She barely had time to widen her eyes in disbelief before she had been shoved off the crashing helicarrier. If she had screamed, it hadn't been audible over the roaring fires and whipping winds that surrounded the Soldier now.

Steve wasted no time in hurrying back to Bucky's side, using their combined strength to pry the steel support high enough for him to drag himself away. Bucky panted heavily once he was finally free, using his elbows to push himself back onto his feet.

"You know me."

A twitch, almost like a small electric shock coursed painfully through his brain at the words – the _voice._ In a gut reaction, Bucky pivoted with his fingers already curled into a tight fist long before it slammed into the side of the Captain's head. "No, I don't!"

"Bucky – "

Another shock, another twitch, another hit. The more this man caused him this foreign pain that made his chest feel frighteningly hollow, the more the Soldier was desperate to kill him.

* * *

Veronika had never been a big fan of water. She knew how to swim as well as anyone, but ever since the waterboarding incident in Japan a few years back, she hadn't been much of a swimmer. If it meant saving her life? Well, that was a different story.

As if swimming with a bleeding gunshot wound while entirely exhausted wasn't difficult enough, Veronika also found herself on a time crunch to dodge from the smoking helicarrier debris raining down from the sky. There were a few times when she was forced underneath the waves, but she remained determined to make it to the shore that grew ever so slightly closer with each stroke.

When she finally, _finally_ managed to reach land, Veronika dug her fingers into the sand and used the last of her strength to drag herself out of the water. The cool air provided little comfort to her body as it shivered from a combination of being wet in the cold and the adrenaline sapping from her body, leaving her with nothing but the aftershock of being shot. The bleeding had stopped some time ago, but with no exit wound she knew that the bullet was still floating around somewhere in her abdomen and could only be removed through surgery.

Veronika watched the sky through half-closed eyes as she shifted to lie on her back, unwilling to go any further. For the first time in a long time, she felt as if she had utterly and truly failed.

Her journey over the past two years had been wrought with individual failures – more than she cared to count – but this had been the end goal. To kill the Winter Soldier, to save Steve, to save Natasha and prove her own self-worth. And yet here she lay, with nothing to show but a handful of injuries and the sinking feeling that came with losing somebody she had dared to call an ally, if not a friend.

Veronika had seen many horrible things in her life without so much as batting an eyelash, but as the helicarriers crashed into each other and she caught sight of a distinctly human figure falling from the one marked IN-03, she couldn't help but close her eyes with a quiet sigh.

A hum crackled in her ear – an unwelcome reminder that there were others waiting for her somewhere on the other side of the river. It was almost impossible for her to distinguish words from background noise, thanks to what she assumed was water damage after her fall. "Useless," she grumbled to herself, plucking the device from her ear and tossing it carelessly to the side.

With the buzzing noise banished, Veronika was able to hear the break of water hitting the shore at her feet. The debris had caused a few waves, but that sounded different. This wasn't waves, this was… dragging?

Veronika propped herself on one elbow, opening her eyes despite their protest against the harsh sun overhead. Her pinched expression only grew more tense as the sun's rays glinted off a metal arm attached to the man freeing himself from the Potomac further down shore.

 _Of course_ , she thought to herself with mixed feelings of anger and relent. _Of course this wouldn't kill him. Of fucking course he would be the one to survive when Steve was the one…_

Her own thoughts were cut short when she saw what the Soldier was tugging behind himself – the source of the dragging noise. Veronika wasn't sure if it was her relieved gasp or her feet kicking up sand as she pushed herself back to her feet that alerted the Winter Soldier to her nearby presence, but which ever it was caused him to jerk his head in her direction.

There was a moment when the two of them made eye contact that the Soldier tightened his grip on Steve's shirt. His first instinct was to attack the woman in front of him, and it was only heightened when it became apparent just how vulnerable she looked in that moment.

But then… Then it was gone. He thought back to words exchanged on the helicarrier with the Captain – with Steve. He thought back to the flashbacks – memories? He looked back to Veronika, and he realized that he had never seen genuine emotion in her features before, not even anger. Now, as she stood across from him, very visibly trying not to look away from him and towards the man on the ground, he didn't want to hurt her. In fact, he had a very different idea.

Bucky took a small step closer to Veronika – just enough to show that he was addressing her, but not enough to frighten her or put her on the defensive. "Can you help him?"

Veronika blinked once at the sound of his voice, then twice more at the nature of his question. She was quite sure it was the first thing he had ever said to her that wasn't a direct threat on her life. Whatever had happened on that helicarrier… She wasn't quite sure she even wanted to know.

For once in her life, Veronika wasn't sure whether or not to trust her voice, so she settled for a nod. That seemed a good enough answer for Bucky. Good enough, at least, for him to release his hold on the Captain and take a step away. Veronika took that as a sign to move slowly closer, her eyes remaining on the Soldier until she stood a mere three feet from the man.

Even in her current state, Veronika could see the deep lines etched into his face that said more than words ever could. He was confused, and scared. With Hydra on the verge of being wiped out and being reunited – albeit temporarily – with a link to his past, he had no idea where to go from here.

That gave her an idea.

Because fuck it all, even if Veronika feared and loathed the man standing before her now, she knew _exactly_ what it was like to be in that situation. She had always been far too curious and far too much of a risk-taker or her own good, after all. She just had to ask one question first.

"Why did you save him?"

Bucky paused in his backwards steps that he had been taking from her, wanting to escape but not wanting to turn his back on her before he was a safe distance away. His eyebrow twitched as he considered whether or not to answer, or if he even could. _I don't know_ felt like the coward's way out, but was there any truer answer?

Well… There was one.

"It wasn't the end of the line."

While the words sounded somewhat profound, and seemed to hold a great deal of meaning to the Soldier, Veronika had absolutely no clue what he was on about. Still, if it meant enough for him to go against everything ingrained in his head to save Steve, then it was an A+ answer in her books, and all the go-ahead she needed.

"I have a place," she sighed, lowering her eyes just enough to where she could still she his form but no longer had to hold his gaze as every instinct she had ordered her to shut her mouth before it was too late. What had her instincts done for her lately, though, but get her into a whole lot of shit? "It isn't much, but it's safe. If you need some time to think, or just lay low for a while…"

Bucky tensed reflexively when she reached inside her jacket, but relaxed the tiniest fraction when instead of a weapon she produced a folder. The color had darkened to a dull brown from the water, and he was sure the contents would be barely legible at best. Still, when she held it out as far as her arm would allow without coming any closer to him, he met her halfway by reaching out to accept the papers.

There was no miraculous friendship formed between the two, or even a semblance of trust. Just a hint of understanding, and the willingness to run with it when no other options seemed to present themselves.

Veronika wasn't surprised when his only thanks was a small nod before he continued backing away from her and towards the tree line that separated the banks of the Potomac from the city of Washington, D.C. It wasn't until he had completely disappeared from sight that she finally allowed her eyes to shift to Steve's unconscious form, and her knees to drop into the sand by his side.

Moving one hand underneath his head and the other to the side of his neck, Veronika held her breath as she waited… waited… and felt the pulse. She sighed through her nose before slipping her arm underneath his with a quiet grunt of exertion. "All right, Rogers. Let's see how far we can get you before I collapse, huh?"

The answer to her question turned out to be "just enough to get through the tree line, find a very horrified looking woman with a cell phone and demand – very sweetly – to borrow it". After that, she recruited the poor woman to help nestle the super soldier onto a nearby park bench as she dialed 911.

" _911, what's your emergency?"_

"Yes, hello. I'm on the outer edge of the south side of the Potomac. I have a bullet lodged somewhere between my kidney and my spleen judging by how uncomfortable the placement is. It stopped bleeding a while back, but now that the shock has started to settle I'm quite sure I'm going to be unconscious within the next few minutes. Oh! I should also mention that I have Captain America with me, and he probably has a lot of internal bleeding, along with multiple gunshot wounds and probably a bit of smoke inhalation just to spice things up. I was just wondering if you might be so kind as to send an ambulance our way?"

The other line was utterly silent for nearly thirty seconds – which Veronika found to be quiet unprofessional – before the estimated time of arrival was three minutes. Unsure as to whether or not she would still be awake at that time, she asked one more favor of the woman she had dragged into this mess as she returned her phone. "You wouldn't mind sticking around and waiting with us for the ambulance, would you?"

With her reluctant nod of agreement, Veronika took the available seat next to Steve with an exhausted huff, placing an amicable hand on his shoulder. "Just a few more minutes, gorgeous. That's all I need from you. Keep breathing for just a few more minutes, and I promise I won't be angry with you for throwing me off a crashing helicarrier… That's a lie, I'm going to be furious with you when you wake up."

Steve remained still underneath her hand, and she found it drifting once more to the pulse in his neck just to assure herself that she hadn't lost him while she listened intently for the sound of sirens in the distance.

* * *

 **And voila! CA:WS –** _ **completed!**_

 **There is, of course, that little cemetery scene along with Steve in the hospital, but as for the plot of the movie, we have officially finished. That is not to say, however, that this story ends here. Far from it! This is but a simple milestone in the story of Veronika reuniting with her little family.**

 **Expect further updates including all of your favorite characters from this fic, and perhaps – if you're lucky – a few from the old one? Let me know if there are any cameos you'd like to see moving forward!**

 **I was afraid to bring Veronika into the MCU at first, I'll admit, but all of you lovely people made it happen with your continuous love and support. To name just a few of my bright and shining stars: LucyNH, Dracarum, and Althene24. While I absolutely adore every single one of you, these few stick out in my mind as frequent fliers/reviewers and people that I strive to impress as often as possible. Much love to you all.**

 **And of course – as always – I will see all of you in the next chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14 Preview**

"I have a guy," Veronika shrugged noncommittally. "Much more trustworthy than the last one, who ended up dead… What? I'm not the one who killed him."


	14. A Sister's Admiration

**Восхищение сестра в**

 _A Sister's Admiration_

* * *

Hand lingering inches from frosted glass, head tilted in heavy curiosity, heart beating erratically beneath his shirt.

The Winter Soldier – _Bucky_ – was perfectly still in front of the memorial that had been built in his honor, standing in a place of pride among veterans and war heroes. The faces painted on the walls surrounding him were strange. In his mind he could almost see them, lingering in the dark corners of memories long forgotten. Even staring straight at them now, he felt as if he couldn't truly see them.

It was no different seeing his own portrait.

Before him now was the black and white photograph of a man so familiar, yet so unrecognizable. If he were to compare the features of the grinning young man to his own, he would find that they shared the same strong jawline, cleft chin and pointed nose. He would also see that the man in the picture looked far less tired, with fewer worry lines and brighter eyes that had yet to experience the true horrors of the world.

Bucky stopped himself from touching the display, slowly lowering his hand back to his side before stuffing it deep inside the pocket of the (dry) jacket he had… _acquired._ Reflexively his shoulders lifted to help conceal his features as he lowered his head, the brim of his baseball cap tipping over his eyes.

It had been four days since _The Incident_. Four days since that blond-haired punk had come swinging at his carefully constructed walls with a sledgehammer and determination. Four days since he had broken every rule Hydra had ever set in place by saving the life of the very man he had been ordered to kill. Four days since inklings of memories he hadn't even known he had missed had started to come flickering back in annoyingly small increments.

Apple pie sitting on a recently cleaned counter. Men in green marching to the sound of a trumpet. A small boy defending himself in an alleyway from a man more than twice his height and weight. A bright red car falling onto a stage. A woman named Sarah using a white cloth to clean dirt from his cheeks. Returning the embrace of two – no, three – young girls as they jumped on him, laughing and welcoming him home.

 _Home._ The mere thought of the word was enough to release a strange feeling in his chest – a hollow warmth that chilled around the edges when he remembered that he no longer had one. Not exactly, anyway.

Being careful to make sure that none of the stragglers left in the museum shortly before closing were watching, Bucky removed a folder from inside his jacket. He had yet to work up the courage to read through most of the passages, but one note on the back cover had been viewed so many times it had all but been burned into his memory. Still, he looked once more.

An address. Three numbers followed by a street name, a state and country listed below.

With all of his ties to Hydra effectively cut off, Bucky had spent the last three days on the run with only short fifteen minute naps in hidden corners of darkened alleyways dotted throughout. He had no network, no friends, no safety net… He had nothing, but a few papers detailing Hydra's treatments and an address. An address that he had yet to visit for one reason, and one reason only – the woman who had given it to him.

" _I have a place,"_ she had said to him. _"It isn't much, but it's safe."_

But what guarantee did he have that she had been telling the truth? Was he just supposed to believe that she wouldn't be waiting by the door with a gun pointed at eye level? Was he supposed to take her word for it that this could be his safe haven, a temporary home where he could "lay low" and "take time to think"? That after everything he had endured the very same woman who had been willing to chase him to the ends of the earth if it ensured his death would now willingly hand over one of her secrets on a silver platter?

No. No, of course she wouldn't do that. She would never be so stupid, and he would be naïve to believe otherwise. There was no safe house. There was no time. There was no silent agreement that the days of chasing each other with the intent to kill were over.

And yet, as Bucky blended into the crowd exiting the museum with the folder tucked neatly back inside his jacket, he wandered if he had any other options.

* * *

Veronika had never been one for goodbyes.

The woman stood a good distance from the fresh tombstone Steve and Sam were conversing in front of, a third hooded figure on his way to join them. She faintly recognized the man as Nick Fury, though she would never have known it was him if not for the way he paused briefly to acknowledge her with a small nod. After she had offered a half-smile in response, he turned his attention back to the men in front of his empty grave.

Everything had happened very quickly after the fall of the helicarriers. The world had demanded answers from SHIELD, an organization that had crumbled along with its headquarters and had none to offer. Questions popped up everywhere from newspapers to TV to social media, asking how Hydra had managed to infiltrate and thrive among the very people meant to defend the world from them. Word of the Winter Soldier had spread like wildfire, a ghost story no longer but a very real threat.

It had all been just a tad dramatic for Veronika's tastes. Steve had shared that opinion with her in the hospital after he had woken up.

" _I thought that pinup girls had a flair for theatrics," Veronika had joked, chuckling quietly when he groaned. "That's right, Captain. I had quite a bit of time while they were prying that bullet from my body to look into who you were. Losing the tights was a bad move on your part, if you don't mind me saying."_

Veronika's hand ghosted over the bullet wound as she thought back to her short stint in the hospital. It wasn't the first time she had been shot, but it _was_ the first time it had struck an organ. A few centimeters to the left and she would have found herself down one kidney. Luckily, the metal had only grazed the organ, the damage repairable. Good thing, too. She doubted finding a donor would be a simple task.

"I heard that we're going to match."

Veronika turned her gaze from the faux funeral to her right side at the statement, a small grin tugging at her lips when she saw who had joined her. "Yes, well. Tattoos never seemed like such a good idea, due to the whole accelerated healing thing. I suppose a matching scar is the next best thing, wouldn't you agree?"

Natasha chuckled, crossing her arms over her chest. "I never knew you were so sentimental."

"There's a lot you don't know about me."

"Apparently."

Silence fell over the sisters, though for the first time in a long time it wasn't an uncomfortable one. The two women watched the proceedings before them in amiable quiet for a time, Natasha only speaking again when she saw Steve look their way. She had something she wanted to say before he and Sam joined them.

"Hydra knows about you," she spoke softly. "They're weak now, but they're going to come back, and they're going to come back with a vengeance. Against Steve, against me, against you. We're all on their radar, and we aren't going to be off until they're gone for good."

Veronika glanced at her sister, lightly bumping their shoulders together. "I am no fool, Lia. I knew what I was getting myself into by agreeing to help your cause."

"Yes, and the last time you _helped our cause_ , you took off the moment everything died down," Natasha nearly snapped. Despite everything, it was difficult to not hold at least a small grudge for the betrayal years ago. "So if you plan on leaving again to protect yourself, now would be the time to do it."

When silence grew once more between the pair, it had lost its previous friendliness. The pair stood with rigid shoulders, each unsure as to where this route of conversation would lead them. Veronika glanced once more at Natasha from the corner of her eye, her eyebrows furrowed tightly together. There was something she had been meaning to say. Something that made her spine go straight and her fingers curl against her palms. Something that made her uncomfortable, but she could only hope would provide a small solace to the person who meant most to her in this world.

"I think Ivan was wrong."

She heard Natasha scoff as if to say _of course he was, you imbecile._ The action made clarifying her statement no easier, and yet she chose to continue. "Love is for children. Every morning, afternoon, and evening he would drill it into our heads. Our feelings will consume our intellect if we allow them. Our emotions make us weak, and weakness will get us killed. He left us no choice but to abandon them in favor of survival... I remember the night you told me that the thought of never feeling again terrified you."

Natasha's gaze had lowered to her feet, her lips pressed into a thin line. She remembered that night as well. How could she ever forget?

* * *

 _The routine silence had fallen over the Red Room as its inhabitants were resigned to their bedrooms, deafening in its own right to the girls who had yet to grow used to it._

 _A young Natalia stared with worried eyes at the dank ceiling above her bed. As with every night, her right hand had been bound to the thick metal headboard, leaving her in an uncomfortable position to sleep in. Comfort was not necessary for her survival. It had therefore been overlooked. She wasn't sure if she would ever grow used to it._

 _Sleeping arrangements were far from the forefront of her mind this night, however. Her mind had drifted instead to the meeting held this morning at breakfast._

 _It had been nearly a year since the latest batch of girls had begun their treatments, yet it was not until just that morning that they had been told they would begin their training in the art of ridding themselves of their emotions. It was necessary for their survival, they told the girls, and for the good of their future missions. If they could not feel, they could not doubt. Nothing would be more important to them than their mission – as it should be._

 _At a ripe nine years of age, Natalia's emotions were still developing and could be quite fragile. The mere thought of losing them before they ever had the chance to truly develop of horrifying. Of course she had said nothing to anyone, but she had been unable to shake the feeling of dread all day… Though soon she wouldn't have to worry about that dread at all, would she?_

" _Вы непросто_ _." ~You are uneasy._

 _Even if she hadn't immediately recognized the voice, the fact that anyone at all had dared speak to her in the dead of night would have told Natalia who had said the words. A gentle voice, lighter than air and softer than flower petals drifted from the bed next to hers so quietly that even with her enhanced senses Natalia had to strain her ears to hear it._

" _Нет_ _," Natalia whispered in response. "_ _я в ужасе_ _." ~No. I am terrified._

 _Veronika remained silent for a time after that. Thinking that perhaps she had spoken out of turn, Natalia chewed lightly on the inside of her cheek. For as long as they had been sisters, Nika had never judged her. Perhaps she felt differently about the experiments, then?_

 _As Natalia pondered her sister's silence, she was unaware of the careful movements happening to her left. Unaware she would remain until she felt the gentle dip in her mattress, and the feather-light touch of a ten-year-old girl's hand caressing her cheek._

 _The thought had occurred to Veronika three weeks ago that the bobby pins used to hold her wavy hair out of her face as she slept could alternatively be used as an escape device, but when weighing the actions against the consequences she had never felt it to be necessary._

 _Tonight, she had not used it as a means of escape, however. Instead, she curled into the shape of a crescent moon by the side of her younger sister, cradling the girl's head to her chest. Her fingers slid to brush through Natalia's loose red hair, her nose nestled against her forehead._

 _Natalia was shocked to say the least, but welcomed the comfort with open arms. She had no idea how Veronika had managed to free herself or why this was how she would choose to spend her evening of freedom. She said nothing, however, choosing instead to relish in the warmth she provided opposed to the freezing cold Russian air that usually surrounded her at night._

 _Veronika, as opposed to her younger sister's opinion on the matter, was unafraid of the events to come. She had endured enough pain and suffering in her short life to relinquish her emotions of her own free will. Living on the streets of Russia as a young girl was no easy life. She had seen things that could never be unseen, done things that could never be undone, felt things that would leave permanent scars on her psyche._

 _Natalia had not been so unlucky. Though she had been orphaned young, she'd had the small fortune of being immediately sent to an orphanage. While few good things could be said about the Russian foster care system during the Cold War, it was a million times better than sleeping in the thick snow._

 _Regardless of their differences, both girls had ended up in the same place. Veronika was very mature for only being ten years old, and had developed a fierce protectiveness over her sister. She knew that there was nothing she could do to stop Ivan from performing whatever sick experimentation he wished on them, but she also knew that she would not allow it to break the only person alive in this world she would ever dare feel for._

" _Они никогда не будет у вас_ _," Veronika murmured against Natalia's forehead, her arms tightening dangerously around the girl's form. "_ _Независимо от того, что они не говорят вам, и что они делают для вас. Я всегда буду защищать вас любыми необходимыми средствами." ~They will never have you. No matter what they tell you or what they do to you. I will always protect you, by any means necessary._

 _These were the last words spoken that night. Natalia curled against Veronika as much as she could with one arm still restrained, while Veronika continued to soothe the girl with soft strokes through her hair and a firm hold on her small body. It was the only night in their long imprisonment that they would ever hold each other so, and the one night that would be forever implanted into their memories for the rest of their long lives._

* * *

A somber atmosphere had developed in the air surrounding Natasha and Veronika, now grown decades after that night's promise and the fears of what the Red Room might do to them. There had been a lull in Veronika's confession as she remembered the night mentioned, but in the blink of an eye she had pulled herself out of the memory.

"You were right to be scared," she murmured, the confidence that she had entered this conversation with all but completely drained. "Not feeling is… impractical. And quite frankly impossible. Ivan was wrong to believe that he could turn girls into machines. We can ignore them all we want, deny their existence at every turn, but we can never truly turn our emotions completely off."

"I never broke my promise to you," she continued. "Everything I've ever done has been to protect you. That's not to say that I've always made the right choices, however. Leaving two years ago was the wrong choice, regardless of the reasons I had at the time. I realize now that they were selfish reasons, even if I had your best intentions in mind."

Veronika paused for another moment before finally turning to face Natasha, only to find that her sister had turned her gaze on her long ago. "We were taught to believe that our emotions make us weak, yet it was only when I allowed myself to feel those emotions that I was able to succeed." Her brows twitched together as the beginnings of a grin worked its way onto her lips. "You act so cold and calculating around your friends, yet that could not be further from the truth. You say that love is for children, and yet you love each and every one of them with a ferocity that I have come to admire. Just as I have come to admire you, even more so than I always have."

If Natasha hadn't learned long ago to keep her features schooled in the face of any situation, her mouth surely would have dropped in surprise at Veronika's words. She couldn't remember any other time her sister had been so open with how she felt – not even after the incident two years when she had opened up about her entire history with Alexei. It was an odd sight to be sure, but a welcome one nonetheless.

Seeing as today seemed to be a day for shock and awe, Natasha decided that – just this once – it may be okay to show her friend both new and old just the slightest peek behind her walls designed to hide the deep emotions Veronika had spoken of.

And she did not disappoint. _Shock and awe_ seemed mild words to Steve and Sam as they experienced the sight of Natasha closing the small gap between herself and her sister, wrapping her arms firmly around her neck as she pulled her into a tight embrace. They watched with mixed expressions of confusion and approval as Veronika blinked repeatedly, her arms hanging limply by her side for just a moment before slowly lifting to Natasha's waist.

An involuntary, _genuine_ smile lit up Veronika's face as she returned her Lia's hug. It was the second time they had held each other since their reunion two years ago, and it proved to be no less warming than the last time. It was short and sweet, and yet neither of the sisters could have possibly asked for more.

Steve didn't want to interrupt the moment, and so he waited patiently with his own satisfied grin on his face for the two women to pull apart before nudging Sam and walking up to them. "Glad to see that you two have made up."

"I wasn't aware we were ever at odds," Veronika replied with a faux look of confusion. "Did I miss something?"

"Did you hear what you needed to?" Natasha asked Steve, ignoring Veronika's quip. They may have reached an understanding with each other, but that did nothing to lengthen her tolerance for Veronika's so-called "humor".

Steve nodded, shooting a glance over his shoulder in the direction Fury had disappeared to. "I've been fairly warned… But it hasn't changed my mind."

"Seems like nothing ever does," Sam added.

"You know I would help you if I could," Natasha sighed. "I've asked around, but either nobody has anything on him or they're all too afraid to spill what secrets they do have."

"I'm sorry," Veronika cut in, raising her hand to catch the attention of the group. "What am I missing? Who are we looking for?"

Suspicious looks were exchanged between the three others standing in the cemetery. It was a tad insulting, but it wasn't as if Veronika believed she had just earned everybody's trust overnight. Regardless, Steve decided to fill her in on their plans to locate none other than –

"You have got to be shitting me."

"I told you not to tell her," Sam said with a smack to Steve's shoulder that earned him glares from both the blond and the woman he spoke of.

"If anyone can find him, it's the woman who tracked him across the country – "

"Globe," Veronika corrected.

" – _globe_ ," Steve allowed, "for two years."

"I think you're forgetting _why_ I was tracking him, gorgeous."

"I'm not an idiot." Veronika raised one eyebrow in disagreement, causing Steve to mend his statement. "I might be naïve, but I'm _not_ an idiot."

"You _are_ naïve! If the Winter Soldier doesn't want you to find him, you won't."

"You did. Repeatedly."

"I don't think you understand how tracking works."

"Then explain it to him," Natasha finally cut in, drawing everyone's attention as she propped her hands against her hips with a shrug. "We all know that you don't look forward to running into this guy again anytime soon. Doesn't it make sense that if you know where he is, you can avoid him? Why not let Captain Sad Eyes and his pet Parakeet follow those same leads in the meantime?"

"Okay, now you wait just one damn second –" Sam started at the same time that Steve narrowed his eyes with an offended, "That was unnecessary."

Veronika had to admit that Natasha's reasoning was sound. It wasn't the reasoning that had her hesitant to lend her aid, however. No, it wasn't her fear, either. It was the fact that she had a pretty good idea of exactly where he would be – hell, she had the exact address of where that metal-armed prick that she inexplicably felt like she owed a favor to was hiding out – and yet she felt disinclined to write that same address down for the Super Soldier and Friends.

She had promised a safe haven, and even if she had no reason to protect the Winter Soldier, she was a woman of her word… most of the time. How would it look if she promised him time alone to sort through that mess of a mind he was toting around, only to turn around and show those who wished to interrogate him exactly where he hid?

And then it hit. Oh, how brilliant. How ingenious. How fantastic! Veronika mentally patted herself on the back when the idea struck, interrupting Sam's list of reasons that the Falcon was a badass hero name and costume to share with the group.

"The chain of command!"

The incessant bickering that had been shooting back and forth while Veronika had been deep in thought ceased at the sound of her voice, aforementioned bickerers turning their eyes back to her as she flashed them a triumphant smile and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's nearly impossible to track a single person as skilled as the Soldier, but an organization with connections scattered all over the world? There are bound to be at least a few weak links. All you have to do is look hard enough, and make enough connections of your own. You follow the chain of command."

It clicked for Natasha first. Her hand drifted up to her cheek as she considered what Veronika had said, drumming her finger against her temple. "You want to track not just Barnes, but all of Hydra?"

Steve and Sam immediately caught on to the plan once it had been said so blatantly. They had similar reactions that showed clearly on their faces as Veronika continued. "Why not? Of course, it'll prove to be a bit difficult at the moment as most of them are sure to go in hiding so soon after a lost battle, but within weeks they'll be poking their heads up out of their little holes like the pests that they are. And once they do, helping you weed out the talkers will be easy-breezy."

"And those connections you mentioned?" Steve asked, quickly grasping at Veronika's tentative agreement to help. He was determined to carry through with his plan even if he had to do it on his own, but any help offered was more than welcome in his mind.

"I have a guy," Veronika shrugged noncommittally. "Much more trustworthy than the last one, who ended up dead… What? I'm not the one who killed him."

The disapproving looks that Steve, Sam and Natasha had all turned on her at her words faded the slightest bit at her assurance that she hadn't been the cause of her last "connections" death, but only barely.

"So you're on board then," Steve said slowly, raising his eyebrows in question.

Veronika turned to Natasha, who merely shrugged. Sam rolled his eyes under her gaze before nodding his approval. Turning back to Steve, she plastered a half-genuine, half-unsure grin onto her face as she answered him. "I guess I could stick around for a while. When do we start?"

* * *

 **Ahhh, I apologize for the long wait! Work's been kicking my ass. I'm sure none of you want to hear about all that, though, so moving on…**

 **Character development! Veronika's going to be sticking around Washington for a while with the gang. We'll get to see a little bit of the hunt for Bucky, and also the Avengers tracking down the remaining Hydra bases. So look forward to that! In the next chapter we'll see the return of somebody who… Well, I'll just let you read the preview. ;)**

 **And as always, I will see you all in the next one.**

* * *

 **Chapter 15 Preview**

Veronika couldn't help but let out the most heartfelt laugh she had in a long time at the sight of the man in front of her. It was the kind of laugh that left you clutching at your stomach and tears in your eyes, which she promptly wiped away to stop them from blurring her view of his reaction.


End file.
